Supporters remember Navalny two years after his death
Supporters of leading Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who Europe’s leading governments say was killed with a government nerve agent in Moscow, are commemorating the second anniversary of his death.
Events are planned in Russia and more than 20 countries on Monday, according to Navalny’s team working in exile.
A dozen cities in Germany, including Berlin, Hamburg and Leipzig, commemorated Russian President Vladimir Putin’s harsh criticism. The dissidents are said to have been tortured to death in a penal camp in the Arctic region on February 16, 2024.
People can leave flowers at Borisovskoye Cemetery in Moscow, where Navalny’s grave is located. Rallies are banned in Russia.
The politician’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, accuses Putin of killing her husband.
On Saturday, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom claimed that analysis of Navalny’s remains showed traces of the highly potent toxin epibatidine.
“Russia claimed that Navalny died of natural causes. However, given the toxicity of epibatidine and the reported symptoms, it is highly likely that the cause of death was poisoning. Navalny died while in prison, which means that Russia had the means, incentive and opportunity to administer this poison to him,” the joint statement made on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference said.
It is unclear how Navalny’s tissue samples reached the West.
Amnesty International called for clarification of the circumstances surrounding his death.
In 2020, Navalny narrowly escaped an assassination attempt on the chemical warfare agent Novichok.
Russian authorities claim that Navalny died of natural causes.
Despite the demands of Navalny’s mother, they did not leave his body for days. This led to fears that any traces of poison could no longer be detected.
Human rights activists criticized the lack of explanation in Russia.
“To this day, Russian authorities are covering up the circumstances surrounding his death,” said Julia Duchrow, Amnesty International’s general secretary in Germany.
He also said the ruling apparatus was waging a “ruthless campaign” against Navalny’s supporters. Their lawyers are in prison.
“This systematic repression shows how uncompromising the Russian state is towards any peaceful criticism,” he said. Any criticism of the government is considered a crime.
While Duchrow called on Russian authorities to release those detained and annul “unjust convictions”, he also called on the German government to assist politically persecuted people in Russia, for example through flexible visa and residence arrangements.
Navalny was one of thousands of political prisoners in Russia; Putin released only a few of them in exchange for Russians imprisoned in the West.
Human rights activists believe that many prisoners are in mortal danger in Russian penal camps due to torture or other conditions criticized as inhumane.
Human rights organization Memorial, which maintains a list of political prisoners, estimates that Russia is imprisoning at least 5,027 people for political reasons, calling the figure a “minimum estimate.”
“We assume that there may actually be at least twice this number of prisoners,” the statement said.
