As of: February 18, 2024, 4:52 a.m
By: Patrick Mayer
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The cause of the death of Putin critic Alexei Navalny remains unclear.
A report quotes an alleged fellow prisoner of the Russian opposition activist.
Moscow - The Kremlin opponent's spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, confirmed the death of Alexei Navalny on Saturday (February 17).
The Russian opposition activist's team had been informed that Navalny's body was in the city of Salekhard for examination, Yarmysh said.
Alexei Navalny is dead: doubts about the version of the cause of death from Moscow
The cause of death, however, remained unclear even the day after the news of his death; his team spoke of suspected murder.
According to information from Russia, Navalny is said to have died in a penal colony near Charp in the northern Tyumen Oblast in the Polar Urals, and not, as initially assumed, in a detention camp in Siberia.
It was said from Moscow that he collapsed while taking a walk in freezing temperatures.
However, doubts arose about this version at the Munich Security Conference (Siko), where top international politicians meet from February 16th to 18th.
An opposition Russian news portal now claims to have spoken to a fellow prisoner of Navalny, who reported inconsistencies the night before the Putin critic's alleged collapse.
Mourning for Alexei Navalny: People laid flowers in front of the Russian embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark.
© IMAGO/Nils Meilvang
Death of Alexei Navalny: Prisoner from prison camp reports observations
“The unbelievable madness began on the evening of February 15th.
It all started with the fact that the evening inspection, which takes place from 8 p.m. to 8.30 p.m., was greatly accelerated," said a prisoner of the IK-3 penal camp, according to
Novaya Gazeta Europa
: "This often happens on the eve of holidays, when the guards are in a hurry have to come to the table.
But yesterday (
Friday, editor’s note
) was not a holiday.”
The prisoners were then locked in the barracks and warned “that there should be no traffic between the barracks and that security precautions would be increased.
So you couldn't even put your nose on the road," said the unnamed man, according to the report: "You heard some cars driving into the zone three times late in the evening and at night.
But you couldn’t see what they were through the window.”
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Alexei Navalny died: What happened in the prison camp in northern Russia?
As
Novaya Gazeta Europa
writes
,
the morning of February 16th began with a comprehensive search of the prison camp.
The colony staff confiscated several cell phones, cards and even boilers.
According to the prisoner, Navalny's death was communicated within the colony around 10 a.m. local time - that is, 8 a.m. Moscow time.
“The solitary cell in which he was housed is located away from the barracks.
If an ambulance had driven there, it would have been recognizable," said the prisoner, according to the news portal: "On the morning of the 16th, there were no ambulances in the colony.
They only appeared when it became known that Navalny was already dead.
So I think that Navalny died much earlier than announced.
Most likely last night.
Why else was it necessary to lock us in the barracks and organize a search in the morning?”
So I think that Navalny died much earlier than announced.
Most likely last night.
Why else was it necessary to lock us in the barracks?
Alleged fellow prisoner of Navalny in Novaya Gazeta Europa
It seems, the report says, that the management of the penal colony in the far north of Russia had to carry out an order that it did not want to carry out.
To put it into perspective:
Novaya Gazeta
was founded in 1993 as an independent weekly newspaper critical of the Kremlin.
The newspaper's founder, Dmitri Muratov, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for his independent reporting.
Almost half a year after the start of the war in Ukraine, a Moscow court revoked
Novaya Gazeta
's printing license on September 5, 2022 and its website license on September 15.
Death of Alexei Navalny: There was a poison attack on the Putin critic in 2020
However, editors who fled abroad have been running the online news site
Novaya Gazeta Europa since May 2022.
They should continue to have informal contacts with their homeland.
According to various reports, Navalny's family and team are now demanding that his body be handed over so that an independent autopsy can be carried out.
The lawyer, who was only 47 years old, was a challenge for Kremlin autocrat Vladimir Putin even when he had been imprisoned since January 2021 for the flimsiest of reasons.
The machinations of the Moscow circle repeatedly came to light.
Was he ultimately too dangerous for the Russian autocrat?
Explosive: A poison attack was carried out on Putin critic Navalny in August 2020.
After conducting tests while Navalny was being treated in Berlin, a German Bundeswehr laboratory found a Soviet nerve agent in his body.
How the opposition member died remains a mystery (for now).
(pm)