Russia: Over 400 detained as country mourns the death of Alexei Navalny

Over 400 people were detained in Russia while paying tribute to opposition leader Alexei Navalny who died at a remote Arctic penal colony a prominent rights group reported SundayThe sudden death of Navalny 47 was a crushing blow to many Russians who had pinned their hopes for the future on President Vladimir Putins fiercest foeNavalny remained vocal in his unrelenting criticism of the Kremlin even after surviving a nerve agent poisoning and receiving multiple prison termsThe news reverberated across the globe with many world leaders blaming the death on President Vladimir Putin and his governmentIn an exchange with reporters shortly after leaving a Saturday church service President Joe Biden reiterated his stance that Putin was ultimately to blame for Navalnys deathThe fact of the matter is Putin is responsible Whether he ordered it hes responsible for the circumstance Biden said Its a reflection of who he is It cannot be toleratedMeanwhile Navalnys wife Yulia Navalnaya published a picture of the couple on Instagram Sunday in her first social media post since her husbands death The caption read simply I love youHundreds of people in dozens of Russian cities streamed to adhoc memorials and monuments to victims of political repressions with flowers and candles on Friday and Saturday to pay a tribute to the politician In over a dozen cities police detained 401 people by Saturday night according to the OVDInfo rights group that tracks political arrests and provides legal aidMore than 200 arrests were made in St Petersburg Russias second largest city the group said Among those detained there was Grigory MikhnovVoitenko a priest of the Apostolic Orthodox Church a religious group independent of the Russian Orthodox Church who announced plans on social media to hold a memorial service for Navalny and was arrested on Saturday morning outside his homeHe was charged with organising a rally and placed in a holding cell in a police precinct but was later hospitalised with a stroke OVDInfo reportedCourts in St Petersburg have ordered 42 of those detained on Friday to serve from one to six days in jail while nine others were fined court officials said late on Saturday In Moscow at least six people were ordered to serve 15 days in jail according to OVDInfo One person was also jailed in the southern city of Krasnodar and two more in the city of Bryansk the group saidThe news of Navalnys death came a month before a presidential election in Russia that is widely expected to give President Vladimir Putin another six years in powerQuestions about the cause of death lingered and it remained unclear when the authorities would release Navalnys body More than 12000 people have submitted requests to the Russian government asking for the politicians remains to be handed over to his relatives OVDInfo said SundayNavalnys team said Saturday that the politician was murdered and accused the authorities of deliberately stalling the release of the body with Navalnys mother and lawyers getting contradicting information from various institutions where they went in their quest to retrieve the body Theyre driving us around in circles and covering their tracks Navalnys spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on SaturdayEverything there is covered with cameras in the colony Every step he took was filmed from all angles all these years Each employee has a video recorder In two days there has been not a single video leaked or published There is no room for uncertainty here Navalnys closest ally and strategist Leonid Volkov said SundayA note handed to Navalnys mother stated that he died at 217 pm Friday according to Yarmysh Prison officials told his mother when she arrived at the penal colony Saturday that her son had perished from sudden death syndrome Ivan Zhdanov the director of Navalnys AntiCorruption Foundation wrote on X formerly known as TwitterRussias Federal Penitentiary Service reported that Navalny felt sick after a walk Friday and became unconscious at the penal colony in the town of Kharp in the YamaloNenets region about 1900 kilometres northeast of Moscow An ambulance arrived but he couldnt be revived the service said adding that the cause of death is still being establishedNavalny had been jailed since January 2021 when he returned to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin He has received three prison terms since his arrest on a number of charges he has rejected as politically motivatedAfter the last verdict that handed him a 19year term Navalny said he understood he was serving a life sentence which is measured by the length of my life or the length of life of this regimeHours after Navalnys death was reported his wife Yulia Navalnaya made a dramatic appearance at the Munich Security ConferenceShe said she was unsure if she could believe the news from official Russian sources but if this is true I want Putin and everyone around Putin Putins friends his government to know that they will bear responsibility for what they did to our country to my family and to my husbandThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever