2024-02-17 09:18:41
– Navalny’s relatives demand his remains
While several participants in rallies in memory of the number one opponent of the Kremlin have been arrested, his relatives are demanding his body.
Published today at 10:18 a.m. Updated 48 minutes ago
Arrests of Navalny supporters have mainly taken place in large Russian urban centers.
AFP/Charly TRIBALLEAU
The day after the announcement of the death of Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny, his team asked on Saturday that his remains be handed over to them “immediately”.
The activist’s mother was formally informed of his death in prison. “A colony (penitentiary) employee said that Alexei Navalny’s body was in Salekhard,” a town in Russia’s Arctic region where his prison was located, and had been taken away by “investigators” for “carry out +research+,” said the opponent’s spokesperson, Kira Iarmich.
“We demand that the body of Alexeï Navalny be immediately handed over to his family,” she added, specifying that the prison authorities had given his mother, Lyoudmila Navalanïa, an “official” document confirming the death.
G7 minute of silence
At the same time, the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Munich observed a minute of silence on Saturday in tribute to the Kremlin’s number one opponent, announced the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Antonio Tajani, “opened the meeting of G7 ministers in Munich by asking his colleagues to observe a minute of silence to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny,” the ministry said in a statement.
“For his ideas and his fight for freedom and against corruption in Russia, Navalny was in fact led to his death,” Tajani was quoted as saying by the ministry. “Russia must shed light on his death, and stop the unacceptable repression of political dissent,” he added.
Arrests in ten Russian cities
In Russia, the time has come for repression. Around a hundred people were arrested during several rallies in Russia in memory of opponent Alexeï Navalny, who died in prison on Friday, the specialist NGO OVD-Info announced on Saturday.
According to the count published on its site and updated Saturday morning, “more than 101 people were arrested in ten cities”, mainly large urban centers. Around sixty were arrested and detained in Saint Petersburg, around fifteen in Nijni Novgorod and around ten in Moscow.
As of Friday afternoon, the capital’s authorities had warned residents against any “unauthorized” demonstrations after the announcement of the death of the Kremlin’s number one opponent.
But in the evening, people lined up to lay flowers in several Russian cities on monuments to political dissidents, and arrests had already been reported.
“Extremism”
Any public criticism of power is punishable by prison in Russia. Alexeï Navalny, 47, was serving a 19-year prison sentence for “extremism” in a remote Arctic colony, in very difficult conditions.
His disappearance after three years of detention and a poisoning for which he accused the Kremlin deprives an already bloodless opposition of its figurehead, one month before the presidential election which should once again cement the power of Vladimir Putin.
Also read:Etonam Ahianyo is a journalist in the digital editorial team of paid media. Previously, he worked at “20 minutes”, “NewsExpress” and as a correspondent in West Africa for several international media.More info
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