Alexei Navalny’s body has been discovered, with evidence of bruises and the use of force, according to several media outlets citing paramedics. On Friday (Feb 16), Russia’s prison service said the 47-year-old Putin critic died after a walk at the ‘Polar Wolf’ penal colony in Kharp, about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow. Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden, have blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for Alexei Navalny death.
“What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin’s brutality; no one should be fooled, not in Russia, not at home, not anywhere in the world,” said President Joe Biden.
Moscow has called the allegations “unacceptable and rabid.”
Alexei Navalny death: ‘The cameras in the prison were not working’
Meanwhile, Gulagu.net, a human rights organization that focuses on the rights of Russian prisoners, claims that cameras in the prison where Navalny was held were not operational on the day he died.
According to the rights group, officials from the Federal Security Service (FSB) visited the prison two days before and removed listening devices and hidden cameras “that could have recorded what happened to Alexey Navalny on February 15-16.”
The group also claimed that on the evening of February 16, the officials conducting the autopsy were instructed to declare that the bruises appeared only after Navalny died.
Russian authorities reportedly informed Alexei Navalny’s mother that her son had died of sudden death syndrome
Russian authorities reportedly informed Alexei Navalny’s mother that her son had died of sudden death syndrome.
“When Alexei’s lawyer and mother arrived at the colony this morning, they were told that the cause of Navalny’s death was sudden death syndrome,” Ivan Zhdanov, who directs Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, said on social media platform X.
According to the details, “sudden death syndrome” is a catch-all term for various cardiac syndromes that result in sudden cardiac arrest and death.
Meanwhile, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stated on Sunday (February 18) that a thorough investigation into Navalny’s death should be conducted before any accusations are made.
Speaking at a press conference after attending an African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Lula stated that refraining from commenting on the death at this time was a matter of “common sense.”
“A citizen died in prison, I don’t know if he was ill or had any issues,” Lula said. “To make an accusation is to trivialize. I hope that a coroner will explain why the individual died, that’s all,” he added.