“You are not dealing with a politician, but with a bloody monster,” Yulia Navalnaya said on Wednesday in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Putin can only be defeated with new methods, but not with resolutions or sanctions, she emphasized, referring to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Putin is capable of anything, you can’t negotiate with him, she emphasized. Referring to her husband, who died in Russian custody at the age of 47, Navalnaya said he was “tortured” for three years after his arrest at Putin’s behest and finally killed. The opposition activist’s widow described his body as having been “mistreated”.
Isolated and starving
“He was starved in a tiny stone cell, cut off from the outside world. He was denied visits, phone calls, even letters. And then they killed him. Even after that, they abused his body and they abused his mother,” Navalnaya said, according to the Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Jarmisch published the English-language text of the speech on the X platform (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday. The authorities had refused Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, to hand over her son’s body for days.
Standing ovation in Strasbourg
Navalny died unexpectedly on February 16 in the “Polar Wolf” prison camp in Siberia. Russian authorities gave a natural cause of death. They rejected allegations of state involvement. Navalny’s supporters and leading Western politicians blame Putin for the opposition politician’s death. Navalnaya’s speech was met with long, standing applause from MPs.
Navalny is scheduled to be buried in Moscow on Friday. Navalnaya said she was not sure whether the funeral and memorial service would be peaceful or whether the police would intervene.
Navalny was the best-known opposition figure in Russia and one of Putin’s harshest critics. He particularly denounced corruption and greed and described the state leadership as “crooks and thieves.” His posts online have been viewed millions of times. He was sentenced to more than 30 years in prison.
