According to the Mediazona website, these photos may show the procession that transported the body of Alexei Navalny from the penal camp to the largest city in the region.
The short version
- Photos and videos show a convoy that may have transported the body of opposition politician Alexei Navalny from the Yamal-Nenets region to Salekhard.
- Russian prison authorities announced the death of the opposition politician on Friday evening
- Navalny's mother and lawyers were denied access to the body
- Russian experts believe the family may never receive the body
The video recording begins at 23.54 local time on Friday evening, the same day that Russian prison authorities published information about the death of the Russian opposition leader.
At midnight, the procession may have transported the body from penal colony number three in the Nenets Jamal district to Salekhard, the administrative center.
This distance usually takes an hour by car, which includes crossing the Great Ob River, but according to mediazone The procession drove very slowly and sometimes came to a complete stop.
Independent Russian media cannot provide evidence that it was the convoy that actually transported Navalny's body, but many are talking about it. Among other things, this is the only way between the two places – the alternative is by helicopter. A car from the Prison Service was also one of the cars in the convoy.
In summer there is a ferry here, but in winter they can drive on the ice that settles on the Ob. The region is located in the Russian Arctic, and the temperature has reached about ten degrees below zero in recent days.
The procession consisted of four vehicles. The pictures are from surveillance cameras.
– We assume that it was this convoy that transported Navalny's body to Salekhard, as Mediazona, famous for its investigative journalism, wrote. In 2020, they received the Freight Ord Media Award.
Novaya Gazeta Europe An ambulance worker was quoted on Sunday as saying that the body was in the hospital morgue in the city. This has not been confirmed by the authorities.
On the other hand, people around Navalny stated that his mother Lyudmila tried to exhume the body, but was told that the matter was under investigation and therefore could not be exhumed.
On Monday morning, Navalny's mother and lawyers stood outside the morgue where the body was allegedly located, and were denied access, spokeswoman Kira Garmisch wrote. X.
– Jarmisj wrote that one lawyer was literally fired.
She adds that employees will not answer questions regarding the whereabouts of Navalny's body.
background
This is Alexei Navalny
Who is he?
A well-known Russian jurist and opposition politician. He is one of the most prominent critics of President Vladimir Putin and is considered an important leader of the opposition critical of the regime in Russia.
What happened to Navalny in 2020?
He was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok and had to be treated in Germany. When he returned to Russia in January 2021, he was arrested. This led to large demonstrations in Russia and a deterioration in relations between Russia and the European Union.
What are Navalny's political positions?
He has voiced criticism of corruption and abuse of power in Russia, and has been a champion of greater democracy. He has also distanced himself from Russia's actions in Ukraine and Syria, and supports same-sex marriage.
Russian authorities can, by law, keep a body for up to 30 days as long as it is justified in the interests of the investigation. Human Rights Group OVD-info.
The two Russian experts, Jacob M. Godzimirski and Aje Borchgrevink told VG that the body may never be released to the family.
They point out that Russia never handed over the body of Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov when he died He was killed in 2005, Probably by the FSB.
The head of the FSB at the time was Nikolai Patrushev, who has been known in recent years as the man closest to President Vladimir Putin. Both are former intelligence chiefs, both are from St. Petersburg and, so to speak, the same age.
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