Alexei Navalny’s spokesperson confirmed Saturday that the Russian opposition chief had died at a distant Arctic penal colony and stated he was “murdered,” however it’s unclear the place his physique is.

An official observe handed to Navalny’s mom acknowledged that he died at 2:17 p.m. native time Friday, Kira Yarmysh stated. She added that an worker of the jail colony stated that Navalny’s physique was taken to the close by metropolis of Salekhard as a part of a probe into his dying.

When a lawyer and Navalny’s mom visited the morgue in Salekhard, it was closed, Navalny’s staff stated, writing on their Telegram channel. The lawyer referred to as the morgue and was instructed that Navalny’s physique was not there, his staff stated. Another of Navalny’s legal professionals went to Salekhard’s Investigative Committee and was instructed that the reason for Navalny’s dying has not but been established and that new investigations are being completed with the outcomes to be launched subsequent week, Yarmysh stated.

“It’s obvious that they are lying and doing everything they can to avoid handing over the body,” she wrote on X, previously Twitter, including that his staff “demand that Alexei Navalny’s body be handed over to his family immediately.”

Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service reported that Navalny felt sick after a stroll and have become unconscious on the penal colony within the city of Kharp, within the Yamalo-Nenets area about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow. An ambulance arrived, however he couldn’t be revived. The reason for dying remains to be “being established,” it stated.

Maria Pevchikh, head of the board of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, stated that the opposition chief would “live on forever in millions of hearts.”

“Navalny was murdered. We still don’t know how we’ll keep on living, but together, we’ll think of something,” she wrote on X.

Arrests continued Saturday after greater than 100 individuals had been detained in numerous Russian cities Friday once they got here to put flowers in reminiscence of Navalny at memorials to the victims of Soviet-era purges, in accordance with OVD-Info, a gaggle that displays political repression in Russia.

The tributes had been eliminated in a single day, however individuals continued trickling in with flowers on Saturday. In Moscow, a big group of individuals chanted “shame” as police dragged a screaming lady from the group, video shared on social media confirmed.

More than 10 individuals had been detained at a memorial in St. Petersburg, together with a priest who got here to conduct a service for Navalny there.

In different cities throughout the nation, police cordoned off a number of the memorials and officers had been taking photos of those that got here and writing down their private information in a transparent intimidation try.

“After the murder of Alexei Navalny, it’s absurd to perceive (Russian President Vladimir) Putin as the supposedly legitimate head of the Russian state. He is a thug who maintains power through corruption and violence,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated on the Munich Security Conference in Germany Saturday.

“Just yesterday he tried to send us all a clear message — as the Munich Security Conference opened, Putin murdered another opposition leader,” Zelenskyy stated.

U.Okay. Foreign Secretary David Cameron stated Saturday that Britain “will be taking action” in opposition to the Russians accountable for the dying of Alexei Navalny.

Speaking to broadcasters in Munich, Cameron stated “there should be consequences” for “appalling human rights outrages like this.” He stated Britain would “look at whether there are individual people that are responsible and whether there are individual measures and actions we can take.” Cameron didn’t say whether or not the response would consist of monetary sanctions or different measures.

U.S. President Joe Biden Friday stated Washington doesn’t know precisely what occurred, “but there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something Putin and his thugs did.”

The Kremlin bristled Friday on the outpouring of anger from world leaders, with Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, saying the statements are “unacceptable” and “outrageous,” noting that medics haven’t issued their verdict on the reason for Navalny’s dying.

Navalny had been jailed since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow to face sure arrest after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin. He was later convicted 3 times, saying every case was politically motivated, and acquired a sentence of 19 years for extremism.

After the final verdict, Navalny stated he understood he was “serving a life sentence, which is measured by the length of my life or the length of life of this regime.”

The information of Navalny’s dying comes lower than a month earlier than an election that will give Putin another six years in power.

It exhibits “that the sentence in Russia now for opposition is not merely imprisonment, but death,” stated Nigel Gould-Davies, a former British ambassador to Belarus and senior fellow for Russia & Eurasia on the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

Hours after Navalny’s dying was reported, his spouse, Yulia Navalnaya, made a dramatic appearance on the Munich convention.

She stated she was not sure if she may consider the information from official Russian sources, “but if this is true, I want Putin and everyone around Putin, Putin’s friends, his government to know that they will bear responsibility for what they did to our country, to my family and to my husband.”

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