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Navalny’s mother denied access to morgue in Russia – spokesperson

Alexei Navalny’s mother and his lawyers were denied entry to the morgue in the Russian town of Salekhard, near the prison colony where authorities claim he died, according to Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh.

“One of the lawyers was physically pushed out,” Yarmysh wrote on X, further stating that morgue staff refused to disclose the location of Navalny’s body.

Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, and his lawyer traveled to the notorious “Polar Wolf” IK-3 penal colony in Russia’s Arctic north, where Navalny had been held since last year, in an attempt to locate his body. However, they were given conflicting information about its whereabouts from different institutions and left without finding or seeing their son.

Navalny, a prominent critic of the Kremlin, was serving a lengthy prison sentence on various charges, the most recent being a 19-year term on six counts, in the remote penal colony within the Arctic Circle. He had been imprisoned since his return from Germany in January 2021, rejecting the charges as politically motivated.

The 47-year-old former lawyer fell unconscious and died on Friday after a walk at the “Polar Wolf” penal colony in Kharp, located approximately 1,900km (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow, as reported by the prison service.

Navalny’s mother was informed on Saturday at the prison colony that her son had died from “sudden death syndrome,” a vague term encompassing various heart conditions that lead to death, according to Navalny’s team.

Yarmysh stated that Lyudmila Navalnaya, 69, and the lawyers were informed that the official cause of death was still under verification and that it remained uncertain how long the process would take.

“The cause of death is ‘undetermined’,” Yarmysh revealed, accusing the Russian authorities of lying and delaying the investigation.