Berlin summons Russian ambassador following arrest of Alexei Navalny’s mourners

By Andreas Hoenig and Ulf Mauder, dpa I Feb. 19, 2024

 

BERLIN – The German Foreign Office summoned the Russian ambassador on Monday over the death of Alexei Navalny, as the Kremlin continues to crack down on the opposition leader’s mourners and his body has yet to surface.

The diplomatic slap comes as Russian authorities, which have yet to release the body of the dissident to his mother and lawyers – or produce an autopsy report – detain people laying flowers or otherwise commemorating the opposition leader.

In St Petersburg more than 199 people were ordered either detained or fined and 154 were placed in a holding cell, most for several days. There have been more than 400 arrests in more than 30 cities across the country, civil rights activists said.

The politically motivated proceedings against Navalny and numerous other critics of the Russian government, as well as the inhumane prison conditions, show how brutally the Russian judiciary acts against dissidents, a spokeswoman for the German Foreign Office said.

“We condemn this in the strongest possible terms and expressly call for the release of all those imprisoned in Russia for political reasons,” she said.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokesman separately called on Russia to fully clarify the circumstances of Navalny’s death in a Siberian prison camp and also to release his body to his family.

The Russian government said the investigation into Navalny’s death is ongoing.

“So far, the results of this investigation have not been published and are therefore not known,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian news agency Interfax on Monday.

Navalny’s team accuses the Kremlin of lying and stalling in order to conceal what happened to the opposition leader. This occured in 2020, they say, when Navalny was poisned with the Novichok nerve agent, which they believe was ordered by Putin.

On Monday morning, Navalny’s mother Lyudmila Navalnaya and his lawyers were not allowed into the mortuary in the northern Russian town of Salekhard, Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“When asked whether Alexei’s body is there, the staff did not answer,” Yarmysh wrote. She said they were told that the enquiry into his death “has been extended. It is not known how long it will last.”

Peskov said that in any case what happens to Navanly’s body is not the Kremlin’s responsibility.

“No, this is not a question that concerns us. We do not deal with this matter,” he said. There is no official information about where the body is. Putin has not reacted to the death of his most important opponent, Peskov, via Interfax, said.

According to media reports, Putin’s supporters celebrated Navalny’s death with a concert in Moscow over the weekend.

Yulia Navalnaya, the dissident’s widow, vowed to continue her husband’s fight for a “free Russia.

“I will continue the cause of Alexei Navalny, fight for our country. I call on you to stand by my side,” said Navalnaya in an emotional video message published on YouTube.

In tears, the mother of two accused Putin of not only killing her husband but also depriving Russia of hope for freedom and justice.

“Three days ago, Vladimir Putin killed my husband Alexei Navalny,” she said.

Most Western powers, including the United States, Britain, and the European Union blame Putin for Navalny’s death.

He had been tortured to death in the prison camp and repeatedly locked up in solitary confinement in a small concrete box, she said, adding that the name of the person who carried out the murder on Putin’s orders will be released shortly.

At a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday they proposed further sanctions against Russia following Navalny’s death.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said an EU instrument allowing sanctions for serious human rights violations will be used to punish Russia.

The European Union’s foreign affairs chief said Putin “will be held accountable.”

“Vladimir Putin & his regime will be held accountable for the death of Alexei Navalny,” Josep Borrell posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Quoting Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, Borrell added, “As Yulia said, Putin is not Russia. Russia is not Putin.”

Russian authorities said he died on Friday after collapsing on a walk in frigid temperatures at the Siberian prison camp where he was serving a long sentence.