The body of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny—who his spokesperson claims was “murdered” Friday at the Arctic penal colony where he spent his final months—won’t be released to his family until officials complete an investigation.
Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila, endured the bone-chilling cold Saturday to visit the prison where he collapsed and died, Reuters reported. Authorities told her the 47-year-old Kremlin critic’s cause of death was “sudden death syndrome.”
“It’s obvious that the killers want to cover their tracks and are therefore not handing over Alexei’s body,” Navalny’s team said in a Telegram post, “hiding it even from his mother.”
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Following the news of Navalny’s death, Russian police arrested at least 340 people at protests and memorials in 30 cities on Saturday, according to rights group OVD-Info.
President Joe Biden and other world leaders swiftly blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the death of Navalny, who was his most prominent foe. “The answer is, we don’t know exactly what happened,” Biden said on Friday, “but there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
Navalny’s demise comes a month before Russia’s presidential election, which will keep Putin in office for another six-year term.
On Saturday, Navalny’s spokesperson shared updates on Russian officials’ purported probe.
“Another of Navalny’s lawyers,” Kira Yarmysh wrote on Twitter/X, “who went to Salekhard's Investigative Committee, was told that ‘the cause of Alexey’s death has not yet been established, a new histological examination has been carried out.’ The results will supposedly be available next week. It’s obvious that they are lying and doing everything they can to avoid handing over the body.”
“Now the Investigation Committee says directly that Alexey’s body will not be handed over to his relatives until the investigation is complete,” she added.
“Only an hour ago, the lawyers were informed that the investigation had been concluded and that something criminal had not been established. They literally lie every time, driving us around in circles and covering their tracks.”
According to the Moscow Times, the country’s federal penitentiary service said Navalny had “felt bad after a walk,” lost consciousness, and died.
But one of Navalny’s lawyers, Leonid Solovyov, said the anti-corruption activist appeared “normal” when another attorney saw him on Wednesday. The next day, Navalny was pictured smiling and cracking jokes during a virtual court appearance from the prison colony.
Navalny became a household name and Putin’s most outspoken critic through publishing exposés on corruption and leading massive anti-Kremlin protests.
In August 2020, he survived a poisoning with a deadly nerve agent, falling ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow and soon being transported to Germany for treatment. Beforehand, he’d reportedly been followed by two doctors and six agents with the Russian Security Service.
Navalny returned to Russia in January 2021 and was immediately arrested. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years behind bars for an alleged probation violation.
The following year, Navalny received another nine-year term for embezzlement and contempt of court; his supporters decried these charges as fabricated. He was sentenced to another 19 years in prison in 2023 after a court convicted him of extremism.
On Friday, the dissident’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, told a crowd at a conference in Germany she didn’t know whether to believe her husband had died.
“But if it is true, I want Putin, those around him, Putin’s friends, and his government to know they will be held responsible for what they have done to our country, my family, and my husband—and that day will come very soon,” she said.
Last year, a documentary about Navalny’s poisoning and imprisonment won an Academy Award, and his wife and children attended the Oscars to accept it.
“My husband is in prison just for telling the truth, my husband is in prison just for defending democracy. Alexei, I am dreaming about the day you will be free, and our country will be free,” his wife said on stage. “Stay strong, my love.”
