Lyudmila Navalnaya, the mother of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, went this Saturday to the prison where he died, accompanied by Navalny’s lawyer, the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported. Reuters.
Navalny, a domestic opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, collapsed and died on Friday at age 47 after walking in the Arctic penal colony Polar Wolf, where authorities said he was serving a three-decade sentence.
Alexey’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh confirmed Navalny’s death on Saturday, citing an official notification sent to Navalny’s mother Lyudumila.
“We demand that the body of Alexei Navalny be immediately handed over to his family,” Yarmysh said.
Kira Yarmysh also wrote on the social network X (formerly Twitter) that Russian authorities said Navalny’s body would not be released to his family until authorities completed their investigation.
This Saturday, Alexei Navalny’s mother and lawyer were told in prison that he had died of “sudden death syndrome,” Ivan Zhdanov, an important Navalny ally, reported on X (formerly Twitter).