OAN’s Elizabeth Volberding
12:05 PM – Monday, February 19, 2024
According to a prominent rights group, over 400 individuals have now been detained in Russia while mourning the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who reportedly died last week at a remote Arctic penal colony.
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On Friday, Russian authorities declared that Navalny, who was serving a 19-year prison sentence due to extremism charges, died last week in prison. He died in the prison establishment above the Arctic Circle on the Yamal Peninsula.
As a result of Navalny’s death, several demonstrations internationally and in Russia took place, where people gathered who wished that he could take on Russian President Vladimir Putin in the future election.
Many Russians who had placed their future hopes in the hands of President Vladimir Putin’s most critical opponent were devastated by the unexpected death of Navalny, 47. Even after surviving a nerve agent poisoning and serving several prison terms, Navalny persisted in his outspoken criticism of Putin.
After the news spread around the world, hundreds of people showed up in dozens of Russian cities on Friday and Saturday to pay their respects to Navalny at makeshift monuments and memorials, honoring those who have suffered from political repression and censorship.
Supporters of Navalny brought flowers and candles to the memorials. By Saturday night, police had arrested 401 people in more than a dozen cities, according to the rights organization OVD-Info, which tracks political arrests and offers legal assistance.
The group reported this data to a tracker on its website.
The second-largest city in Russia, St. Petersburg, saw more than 200 arrests, according to OVD-Info.
One of the individuals detained was Grigory Mikhnov-Voitenko, a priest of the Apostolic Orthodox Church, which is independent of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was taken into custody on Saturday morning after announcing on social media that he would be holding a memorial service for Navalny. He was arrested on charges of rally planning and he was put in a holding cell in a police precinct.
However, OVD-Info revealed that he later suffered a stroke and had to be hospitalized.
According to a statement from court officials on Saturday, in St. Petersburg, courts have demanded 42 of those detained on Friday to serve from one to six days in jail, and nine other individuals were charged.
Furthermore, OVD-Info reported that at least six individuals in Moscow received orders to spend 15 days in jail. According to the group, two more people were imprisoned in the city of Bryansk and one more in the southern city of Krasnodar.
The announcement of Navalny’s death was made one month before Russia’s presidential election, which is most likely going to extend President Vladimir Putin’s term in office by another six years. On Sunday, there were still unanswered questions regarding the cause of death and the timing of the body’s release to the family by the authorities.
The politician was “murdered,” according to Navalny’s team, which also claimed that the government was purposely delaying the body’s release. Navalny’s mother and attorneys reportedly received conflicting information from different facilities that they had visited in their search for the body.
On Saturday, Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, claimed that “they’re driving us around in circles and covering their tracks.”
According to Yarmysh, a note given to Navalny’s mother said that he passed away on Friday at 2:17 p.m.
When his mother arrived at the prison colony on Saturday, officials informed her that her son had allegedly died from “sudden death syndrome.”
“Everything there is covered with cameras in the colony. Every step he took was filmed from all angles all these years. Each employee has a video recorder. In two days, there has not been a single video leaked or published. There is no room for uncertainty here,” Navalny’s closest supporter and strategist Leonid Volkov stated on Sunday.
According to Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service, Navalny “felt sick” after a walk on Friday and later became unconscious at the penal colony. Soon after, an ambulance arrived but it was reported that Navalny could not be revived, adding that the reason for his death is “still being established.”
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