Alexei Navalny’s body reportedly shows signs of bruising that were caused by being held down while he suffered a seizure, raising fears that he was killed on the orders of Vladimir Putin.
The wounds are consistent with the Russian opposition leader – who died aged 47 on Friday amid claims he was ‘murdered’ by Vladimir Putin’s regime – having suffered a ‘seizure’, according to independent outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe.
The news outlet spoke to a paramedic in the Salekhard ambulance service, close to the IK-3 penal colony, also known as ‘Polar Wolf’, where Navalny was being held.
Paramedics found bruises on Navalny’s body, which is now under police guard in a morgue at Salekhard district clinical hospital, according to the independent news outlet.
‘Usually the bodies of people who die in prison are taken straight to the Bureau of Forensic Medicine on Glazkova Street, but in this case it was taken to the clinical hospital for some reason,’ the anonymous paramedic told the outlet.
‘As an experienced paramedic, I can say that the injuries described by those who saw them appeared to be from convulsions.
Alexei Navalny’s (pictured) body shows signs of bruising, according to a new account
Alexei leaves behind his wife Yulia (pictured) and their two children
Vladimir Putin (pictured) has been accused of signing off on his murder
A view of the entrance of the IK-3 prison colony in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenetsk region about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow, Russia
‘If a person is convulsing and others try to hold him down but the convulsions are very strong, then bruising appears. They also said he had a bruise on his chest — the kind that comes from indirect cardiac massage.
‘So they did try to resuscitate him, and he probably died of cardiac arrest,’ the paramedic said, adding: ‘But nobody is saying anything about why he had a cardiac arrest.’
An autopsy has not been carried out yet, according to the outlet.
Earlier, Navalny’s mother was wrongly informed that the politician’s body was at the main morgue in Salekhard.
Now the family has been told that the cause of death has not been established and his body cannot yet be passed to relatives for burial.
Details of Navalny’s passing are few and far between, and those that have been made public have contradicted each other.
It was most recently reported that Navalny died of ‘sudden death syndrome’, but no details were given to back this claim up.
A view of the town of Kharp, the home of the Polar Wold prison, seen through a frame with the words ‘Happiness is not over the hill’ in the Yamalo-Nenetsk region about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow, Russia
A policeman guards as a young man lay flowers paying the last respect to Alexei Navalny
A couple lay flowers to pay the last respect to Alexei Navalny at the monument, a large boulder from the Solovetsky islands, where the first camp of the Gulag political prison system was established
Details of Navalny’s passing are few and far between, and those that have been made public have contradicted each other.
Police officers detain a woman during a gathering in memory of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny near the Wall of Grief monument
Navalny’s allies say they were denied the opportunity to see the body, which would remain with the authorities until an investigation was complete
Russian police officers stand by the the flowers near the Wall of Grief monument laid in memory of Alexei Navalny
Just two minutes after the time Navalny was reported to have died – 2.17pm – Russia’s prison service put out a statement revealing his passing.
Four minutes after this, a Telegram channel controlled by the Kremlin claimed he had died of a blood clot, and just seven minutes later Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, was talking to the media about it.
On top of this, Kremlin officials are alleged to have told the opposition leader’s mother that he died from ‘sudden death syndrome’ as she visited the brutal IK-3 Polar Wolf penal colony where he was being held yesterday.
Navalny’s allies say they were denied the opportunity to see the body, which would remain with the authorities until an investigation was complete.
Navalny’s lawyer, who arrived in the town of Salekhard with Navalny’s mother on Saturday, was allegedly told by the prison that the body was being held in the morgue.
A woman lays flowers at a monument to victims of political repression to honor the memory of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny
Yesterday it was claimed that FSB officers visited the prison Navalny was being kept in just a few days before he died
But a contact at the Salekhard morgue later denied the body was there – leaving yet more question marks around the shock death of one of Putin’s most fierce critics.
‘It’s obvious that the killers want to cover their tracks and are therefore not handing over Alexei’s body, hiding it even from his mother,’ his team said in a post on Telegram.
Yesterday it was claimed that FSB officers visited the prison Navalny was being kept in just a few days before he died.
Two intelligence officers allegedly disconnected some CCTV and recording devices at Polar Wolf, according to Russian human rights campaign group gulagu.net.
Though the site isn’t known for its reliability, it was the first group to break the news that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group was recruiting mercenaries from Russian prisons.
The world has condemned Navalny’s suspicious death, and states across the globe have called for an independent investigation into how he died.
Yesterday, US president Joe Biden said there was ‘no doubt’ Vladimir Putin was to blame for Navalny’s death.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, with his wife Yulia, right, daughter Daria, and son Zakhar pose for the media after voting during a city council election in Moscow, Russia, on September 8 2019
Navalny and his wife Yulia attend a rally against pension age increase in Moscow, Russia, 29 July 2018
Navalny and his wife Yulia attend his last election campaign event during heavy rain in Moscow, Russia on 6 September 2013
He said that the US was looking into a ‘number of options’ to punish Russia.
In 2021, Biden said he told Putin that the consequences of Navalny’s death would be ‘devastating for Russia.’
The US ambassador to Moscow visited a makeshift shrine to Alexei Navalny on Sunday, as Russian authorities suppressed memorials and tributes to the late opposition leader.
Rights groups say police have detained over 400 people at gatherings for the politician, a leading critic of President Vladimir Putin who died in an Arctic prison Friday.
Ambassador Lynne Tracy was pictured on Sunday at the Solovetsky Stone, a monument to political repression that has become a major site of tributes for Navalny.
Yesterday, US president Joe Biden said there was ‘no doubt’ Vladimir Putin was to blame for Navalny’s death
Flowers and portraits of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny are placed at the monument to the victims of political repressions following his death
‘Today at the Solovetsky Stone we mourn the death of Alexei Navalny and other victims of political repression in Russia,’ the US embassy in Moscow said on social media.
‘We extend our deepest condolences to Alexei Navalny’s family, colleagues and supporters. His strength is an inspiring example. We honour his memory,’ it said.
At a separate makeshift memorial known as the ‘Wall of Grief’, a bronze monument to Soviet-era repression, police had set up fences in a bid to ward off mourners.
Several dozen police officers could be seen standing nearby, but some people were allowed to enter through the fence and lay flowers, an AFP reporter saw.
The UK, meanwhile, has threatened to impose another set of sanctions against Russia in the wake of Navalny’s death.
Lord Cameron, the foreign secretary, joined other G7 ministers at the Munich Security Conference in calling on Russia to ‘fully clarify’ how the jailed opposition leader died, amid mounting pressure on Western leaders to respond.
The Foreign Secretary used the German gathering to repeat the UK’s call for countries to seize Russian central bank assets currently held in the West as one way of financing the reconstruction of Ukraine.
It comes as the second anniversary of the Russian invasion approaches, marked by confirmation that Putin’s forces have taken complete control of the frontline city of Avdiivka.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky joined Western leaders in putting the blame on Moscow for the death of Mr Navalny, as he pointed to the demise of the Putin critic as another reminder of the importance of defeating Russia.
‘There should be consequences,’ the Foreign Secretary told broadcasters on Saturday.
‘When appalling human rights outrages like this take place, what we do is we look at whether there are individual people that are responsible and whether there are individual measures and actions we can take.
‘We don’t announce them in advance, so I can’t say anymore than that.
‘But that is what we will be looking at.’
More to follow.