Over 400 detained in Russia while paying tribute to Alexei Navalny, Putin’s fiercest foe
Over 400 individuals were detained in Russia while paying homage to opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who passed away at a remote Arctic penal colony, according to a prominent human rights group's report on Sunday.
The unexpected death of Navalny, 47, dealt a severe blow to many Russians who had placed their aspirations for the future on President Vladimir Putin's most outspoken adversary. Navalny persisted in his relentless criticism of the Kremlin even after surviving a nerve agent poisoning and enduring multiple prison sentences.
The news reverberated globally, with numerous world leaders attributing Navalny's demise to Putin and his government. President Joe Biden, speaking to reporters after attending a Saturday church service, reiterated his belief that Putin bore ultimate responsibility for Navalny's death. "The fact remains, Putin is accountable. Whether he directly ordered it, he bears responsibility for the circumstances," Biden asserted. "It's a reflection of his character. It cannot be condoned."
Meanwhile, Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, posted a photo of the couple on Instagram on Sunday, her first social media post since her husband's passing. The caption simply read, "I love you." Hundreds of people across numerous Russian cities gathered at impromptu memorials and monuments to victims of political repression, laying flowers and lighting candles on Friday and Saturday to honor the politician. According to the OVD-Info rights group, which monitors political arrests and provides legal assistance, over a dozen cities saw 401 people detained by Saturday night.
In St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, more than 200 arrests were made, the group stated. Among those detained was Grigory Mikhnov-Voitenko, a priest of the Apostolic Orthodox Church—a religious group independent of the Russian Orthodox Church—who had announced plans on social media to hold a memorial service for Navalny and was arrested on Saturday morning outside his home. He was charged with organizing a rally and placed in a police precinct holding cell but was later hospitalized with a stroke, according to OVD-Info.
Courts in St. Petersburg sentenced 42 of those detained on Friday to serve between one and six days in jail, while nine others received fines, court officials reported late on Saturday. In Moscow, at least six individuals were sentenced to 15 days in jail, as per OVD-Info. Additionally, one person was jailed in the southern city of Krasnodar, and two more in the city of Bryansk, the group added.
Navalny's death occurred a month before Russia's presidential election, widely anticipated to secure Putin another six years in power.
Questions surrounding the cause of death persisted, with the timing of the release of Navalny's body by the authorities remaining unclear. OVD-Info reported on Sunday that over 12,000 people had submitted requests to the Russian government seeking the release of the politician's remains to his relatives.
Navalny's team asserted on Saturday that the politician had been "murdered" and accused the authorities of intentionally delaying the release of the body. Navalny's mother and lawyers encountered conflicting information from various institutions in their attempts to retrieve the body. "They're leading us in circles and covering their tracks," Navalny's spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, lamented on Saturday.
"Every inch of that colony is covered with cameras. Every step he took was captured from all angles over the years. Each staff member wears a body camera. Yet, not a single video has surfaced or been released in two days. There's no room for uncertainty here," Navalny's closest ally and strategist, Leonid Volkov, remarked on Sunday.
According to Yarmysh, a note given to Navalny's mother stated that he passed away at 2:17 p.m. on Friday. When she arrived at the penal colony on Saturday, prison officials informed her that her son had died from "sudden death syndrome," Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service stated that Navalny fell ill after a walk on Friday and lost consciousness at the penal colony in the town of Kharp, located about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow in the Yamalo-Nenets region. Although an ambulance arrived, he could not be revived, the service announced, adding that the cause of death is still under investigation.
Navalny had been in custody since January 2021, following his return to Moscow after receiving medical treatment in Germany for nerve agent poisoning he attributed to the Kremlin. Since his arrest, he has been sentenced three times on charges he has denounced as politically motivated.
Following the latest verdict, which imposed a 19-year term, Navalny remarked that he understood he was "serving a life sentence, determined by either the length of my life or the duration of this regime."
Hours after Navalny's demise was reported, his widow made a poignant appearance at the Munich Security Conference.
Navalnaya expressed uncertainty about trusting the news from official Russian sources, stating, "But if this is true, I want Putin and everyone around him, Putin's friends, his government, to understand that they will bear responsibility for what they have done to our country, to my family, and to my husband."
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