Alexei Navalny's cause of death not known yet, spokeswoman says

Russian investigators have told one of Alexei Navalny’s lawyers that the cause of the Kremlin critic’s death has not been established yet.

Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh on Saturday said on X, formerly Twitter, that one of his lawyers was informed that the results of a new examination being conducted on the body would only be available by next week.

Yarmysh accused the officials of “lying to avoid handing over the body to Nvalny’s family.

Only an hour ago, the lawyers were informed that the investigation had been concluded and that something criminal had not been established.

They literally lie every time, driving us around in circles and covering their tracks.

— Кира Ярмыш (@Kira_Yarmysh) February 17, 2024

Now the Investigation Committee says directly that Alexey’s body will not be handed over to his relatives until the investigation is complete

— Кира Ярмыш (@Kira_Yarmysh) February 17, 2024

Meanwhile, Navalny’s team said, “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 further said that upon arriving at the local morgue in the town of Salekhard where Navalny’s body was supposedly kept, Navalny’s lawyer and mother Lyudmila learned that the body was not there.

“It was closed despite the prison saying that it was open and that Navalny’s body was there,” Navalny’s team said on Telegram.

The lawyer called a number for the morgue that he saw on the door and was told that “Alexei’s body is not in the morgue”, the post said.

Navalny’s supporters have called for the body to be returned to the family “immediately”.

A statement by Russia’s federal penitentiary on Friday service claims that the Kremlin critic died after “he felt bad after a walk, almost immediately losing consciousness” following which medical teams were called to carry out resuscitation measures. Still, they did not yield any positive results.

With inputs from agencies