Where's Navalny's body? Contrasting accounts as mother leaves from penal colony after failing to locate it

Putin critic Alexei Navalny's mother Lyudmila Navalnaya and his lawyer travelled over the weekend to the notorious “Polar Wolf” IK-3 penal colony in Russia to track down his body. Navalny had been held in the colony since 2023. According to a report by The Guardian on Sunday (Feb 18), Navalnaya received contradicting information from various institutions about her son's body and left the prison complex without recovering it.

The whereabouts of his body remain uncertain.

Navalnaya was first told that her son's body had been taken to a morgue at a hospital in Salekhard, a town near the complex. However, when she arrived at a morgue on Saturday, it was closed.

Ivan Zhdanov, director ofNavalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, said that the Navalny'smother and lawyer were also told that the cause of his death was “sudden death syndrome.”

Navalny's body found with bruises

According to an independent news outlet, a paramedic at the Salekhard ambulance service said that colleagues who treated Navalny's body found signs of bruisesconsistent with seizure as well as traces of heart massage attempts. However, a morgue employee denied this claim. Meanwhile, Navalny's team said that his relatives were refused access to the body for a third day.

Navalny, a 47-year-old former lawyer, rose to prominence campaigning against corruption in Putin's Russia. He was known for his fiery rhetoric at public protests and in courtrooms, vocal presence on social media, and his team's elaborate video investigations into state graft.

According to the prison service, Navalny fell unconscious and died last Friday after he went for a walk at the prison complex. He was serving a 19-year sentence at the prison. The cause of his death is disputed.

Russia: Over 400 detained at events in memory of Navalny

More than 400 people have been detained at events across 32 Russian cities since Navalny's death. According to rights group OVD-Info, the largest number of arrests occurred in St Petersburg and Moscow, where Navalny's support had traditionally been strong.

Also watch |Navalny's team confirms death, family demands body 'immediately'

This has been the largest wave of arrests at political events in Russia since Sept 2022, when over 1,300 people were arrested at demonstrations against a "partial mobilisation" of reservists for Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine.

(With inputs from agencies)