© Reuters. A view exhibits the doorway to the IK-3 penal colony, the place Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny served his jail time period and the place he died the day earlier than, in line with jail authorities, within the settlement of Kharp within the Yamal-Nenets Area, Russia Februa
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KHARP, Russia (Reuters) -Alexei Navalny’s spokeswoman confirmed on Saturday that Russia’s most outstanding opposition chief was useless however stated it was unclear the place his physique had been taken as a morgue near the Arctic jail the place he died stated it had not obtained the physique.
Navalny, a 47-year-old former lawyer, fell unconscious and died on Friday after a stroll on the “Polar Wolf” penal colony in Kharp, about 1,900 km (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow, the place he was serving a three-decade sentence, the jail service stated.
Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, stated that an official demise discover had been given to Navalny’s mom, Lydumila. The time of demise, she stated, was 2:17 p.m. native time (0917 GMT) on Feb. 16, in line with the discover.
“We demand that Alexei Navalny’s physique be given to his household instantly,” Yarmysh stated.
Till now, the jail service assertion on Friday had been the one official phrase on the demise of Navalny, a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin.
Yarmysh, writing on social media platform X, stated an worker of the jail had stated that Navalny’s physique had been taken to Salekhard, the city close to the jail advanced, by Russian investigators, who had been conducting “analysis”.
When Navalny’s lawyer and Navalny’s mom, Lyudmila, arrived on the morgue in Salekhard they discovered it closed and had been assured at Navalny’s physique was not there, Yarmysh stated.
“It’s closed, regardless of the assurances of the colony that it was working and that Navalny’s physique is there,” Yarmysh stated.
“The lawyer known as the cellphone quantity on the door. He was informed that he was the seventh particular person to name in the present day. They do not have Alexei’s physique within the morgue.”
An worker on the solely morgue in Salekhard informed Reuters that Navalny’s physique had not arrived.
“The investigative committee has 1,000,000 choices,” the worker, who didn’t give their identify, stated, itemizing different cities within the area – Labytnangi, Nadym and Urengoy – the place Navalny’s physique may have been despatched to.
“In Salekhard, we have now the one morgue,” he stated. “I’ve not obtained anybody, no our bodies…no papers.”
Requested whether or not a physique may have arrived earlier than he began his shift at 8 a.m., the worker stated: “Nobody handed me something. I feel if such a physique had been delivered to us, I’d have been informed instantly.”
Lyudmila Navalnaya travelled on Saturday to the jail the place her son had been held, accompanied by Navalny’s lawyer, the Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported.
The IK-3 penal colony in Kharp is located within the Arctic Circle, round a one-hour drive from Salekhard, the executive capital of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District.
Western leaders and officers have expressed outrage over the demise of Navalny, which disadvantaged Russian critics of Putin of their most formidable chief.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov known as the West’s response unacceptable on Friday.
In Moscow, the demise left a temper of despair and apathy. The tons of of flowers and candles laid within the capital on Friday to honour Navalny’s reminiscence had been principally taken away in a single day in black baggage.
A number of dozen roses and carnations remained within the softening snow on Saturday on the monument to the victims of Soviet repression, which sits within the shadow of the previous KGB headquarters on Lubyanka Sq. in central Moscow.
