Navalny’s family confirms Russian opposition activist’s death

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Alexei Navalny’s family have accused Russian authorities of hiding his body to cover up what they say is a state-sponsored murder, as the authorities began to arrest people attending spontaneous memorial gatherings.

Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s spokeswoman, said officials gave his mother contradictory information about where his body was, in what she described as a stalling tactic.

Lyudmila Navalnaya received a telegram on Saturday saying her son had died at 2:17pm local time a day earlier, according to Yarmysh.

The telegram was from an official at the penal colony in Kharp, the village in northern Russia to which the opposition activist was transferred in December, Yarmysh said on social media.

But the prison and the morgue in Salekhard, a town an hour’s drive to the south, both claimed they did not have his body, while local investigators told Navalnaya they were still conducting examinations to establish a cause of death.

“The results will supposedly be available next week. It’s obvious that they are lying and doing everything they can to avoid handing over the body,” Yarmysh said.

The death of Navalny, 47, the most prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has sparked outrage from western leaders and Navalny’s supporters, who accused Putin of being responsible.

UK foreign minister David Cameron said “there should be consequences when appalling human rights outrages like this take place,” according to Sky News.

On Saturday Russia stepped up its police presence at spontaneous memorials for Navalny across the country, arresting hundreds of people and removing flowers laid there the night before.

Navalny, a charismatic anti-corruption activist, was jailed just over three years ago after returning to Russia from Germany following treatment for a nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on Putin.

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