Russia
Novaya Gazeta: Navalny’s body lies in Salekhard
Police officers detain Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (l.) in July 2013. photo
© Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP
It has been a mystery for days as to where the body of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who died in a prison camp, is. According to Novaya Gazeta, she is in a hospital in Salekhard.
The body of the Kremlin critic who died in custody According to a media report, Alexei Navalny is being kept in the district hospital in the city of Salekhard in the far north of Siberia. An autopsy had not yet taken place, at least as of Saturday, the Kremlin-critical Novaya Gazeta Europa reported on Sunday, citing its own informants. In addition, the dead man’s body is said to have bruises.
There was initially no official confirmation of this information. Navalny’s relatives have not yet been given access to the 47-year-old’s body.
Salekhard is the capital of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The “Polar Wolf” prison camp, where Navalny died, is about 50 kilometers northwest of it as the crow flies – already beyond the Arctic Circle.
According to Russian authorities, Navalny, who was physically weakened after many days in repeated solitary confinement, collapsed on Friday while walking in the prison camp in freezing temperatures. According to the prison service, attempts at resuscitation were unsuccessful.
Where do the bruises come from?
Human rights activists accuse the Russian power apparatus of murder. The prominent anti-corruption campaigner’s employees also assumed that Navalny was deliberately killed.
Navalny’s mother has so far tried in vain to pick up her dead son. The body was not handed over to her either in the penal colony or in Salekhard.
Novaya Gazeta quotes an anonymous employee of the emergency service. According to him, the bruises show that Navalny had convulsions before his death and was being held by prison camp employees. A bruise on the chest is also an indication that resuscitation attempts have actually been made. However, the newspaper report shows that the informant himself did not see Navalny after his death, but was only informed about his condition by colleagues.