Mourners punished

Navalny’s mother was turned away from the mortuary

(Bild: Associated Press)

Three days ago, the death of the Kremlin's best-known critic Alexey Navalny was announced - but both his family and lawyers are still being denied access to his body. Navalny's spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, announced on Monday morning that his mother and his defense lawyers had been denied access to the mortuary. Numerous Russians mourned the Kremlin critic in public - hundreds of mourners have already been sentenced to prison or fined.

A lawyer who had also demanded access to the mortuary was literally forced out. "When asked whether Alexei's body is there, the staff won't answer," explained Kira Yarmysh on Platform X. The investigative committee only told relatives and defense lawyers that the investigation into Navalny's death had been extended.

Many Russians are mourning the death of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny

(Bild: Associated Press)

In this article on X, Yarmysh reports on the incident outside the mortuary:

Navalny's team suspects delaying tactics
Relatives and Navalny's team have been calling on the Russian power apparatus to hand over the body for days. According to official information, the opponent of ruler Vladimir Putin died in the prison camp on Friday. The reasons for his death have still "not been established", Yarmysh announced. Navalny's team blames Putin for Navalny's death and accuses the authorities of delaying tactics.

Navalny's widow suspects poison attack
Navalny's widow accused the Russian authorities of withholding her husband's body. The authorities were waiting until there were no more traces of the nerve agent Novichok, Julia Navalnaya explained in a video message on Monday. She accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of killing her husband because he had been unable to break Navalny. She said she would continue her husband's work and fight for a free Russia.

Navalnaya was invited to the EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels on Monday. The previous evening, she had posted on Instagram for the first time since her husband's death - a photo of Navalny caressing her with the words: "I love you". Thousands of people posted comments encouraging Yulia Navalny and wishing her strength. By Monday morning, the post had more than half a million views.

The touching Instagram post by Yulia Navalnaya:

Many showed grief despite measures taken by the authorities
Many people laid flowers and lit candles at official memorials to the victims of political violence. Authorities continued to try to destroy the spontaneous memorials, flowers were stuffed into garbage bags and taken away. Western ambassadors also laid flowers opposite the secret service headquarters on the Lubyanka in Moscow, remembering Navalny's courageous resistance to Putin.

Hundreds of mourners fined or imprisoned
Following the death of the Kremlin opponent, Russian courts have so far imposed more than 200 fines in summary proceedings against mourners taking part in spontaneous commemorations. In St. Petersburg alone, the courts of the metropolis of millions ordered the arrest or fines of 199 people, and there were also several such administrative penalties in the Russian capital Moscow. In St. Petersburg, more than 154 people were placed in a detention cell, most of them for several days.

Putin remains silent on Navalny's death
The Russian president, who is seeking re-election in a month's time, has not yet commented on the death of his fiercest opponent. According to the Russian authorities, Navalny, who was physically weakened after many days in solitary confinement, collapsed on Friday while walking around the yard in his Siberian prison camp in freezing temperatures. Resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful, according to the prison authorities.

Widow of poison victim Litvinenko: "Putin is a monster"
For the widow of the Russian ex-spy and Putin critic Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned in London, it is clear that only Putin can be responsible for Navalny's death. "Putin is a monster," she said, adding: "I was so angry because Putin killed again, killed the most prominent politician and the hope of a new Russia." She also worried about other political prisoners in Russia, she added

Alexander Litvinenko with his book critical of the Kremlin in London in 2002

(Bild: AP)

Alexander Litvinenko died in London in 2006 after an attack with the radiation poison polonium 210, which according to an investigation report had been mixed into his tea in a posh London hotel. From his hospital bed, he accused Putin of being behind the assassination attempt. The ex-intelligence officer was one of the Kremlin's harshest critics at the time. Among other things, he had accused the domestic intelligence service FSB, for which he had worked, of being responsible for bomb attacks on residential buildings in Russia, which were intended to provide a pretext for the second Chechen war in 1999.