The team of regime critic Alexei Navalny has confirmed his death. This was announced by his spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch on the X platform citing Navalny’s mother. She traveled to the prison camp in northern Russia and received the news of her son’s death there.
Navalny was murdered, writes Yarmysch. He died on Friday at 2:17 p.m. local time – his mother was informed of this. An employee of the prison camp said that the body was now in Salekhard in northern Siberia. “We demand the immediate handover of Alexei Navalny’s body to his family,” writes Yarmysch.
The news of the death of the Kremlin opponent had already caused horror around the world even before it was confirmed by Navalny’s family. Many observers blamed President Vladimir Putin directly for the death of the 47-year-old opposition figure, which was first reported by Russian state media on Friday, citing the prison system.
US President Biden chose sharp words. While we don’t know exactly what happened, there is no doubt that Navalny’s death was a result of Putin’s actions and those of his criminals, Biden said at the White House. “Putin is responsible.” Biden said he was shocked but not surprised. Putin poisoned Navalny, had him arrested and charged with trumped-up crimes, the US president said. He put him in solitary confinement. But none of this stopped Navalny from denouncing lies, even in prison. “He was a powerful voice for the truth.”
Many European politicians also reacted with horror. With regard to Russia, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: “We now know exactly what kind of regime that is.”
More than a hundred arrests in Russia
According to human rights activists in Russia, more than 110 people were arrested at gatherings to commemorate Navalny. In St. Petersburg alone, the authorities had arrested 69 people by Saturday morning, said the online civil rights platform OVD-Info. The count only includes people whose identities are known and can be published. In total there were arrests in 13 Russian cities.
“How great the power apparatus’ fear of a dead person is when even laying flowers in his memory is viewed as a crime,” wrote the Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the Kremlin-critical newspaper Novaya GazetaDmitri Muratov, in the morning on the Telegram news channel.
Hundreds of flowers laid by mourners in central Moscow on Friday had been removed by Saturday morning, according to a Reuters reporter. Media in many parts of Russia reported in the morning that fresh flowers were still being laid, candles were being lit and pictures were being put up in memory of Navalny. Civil rights activists published legal tips for laying flowers and published the number of a telephone hotline for legal help.