NAVALNY MYSTERY
Alexei Navalny’s body ‘found covered in bruises’ after it ‘went missing’ as cops guard it in hospital morgue
A paramedic said it shows signs of someone being potentially held down whilst having convulsions
ALEXEI Navalny’s body has been found covered in bruises as cops closely guard it in a hospital morgue amid claims Russia had him killed.
Navalny, 47, has consistent marks that could show he was "murdered" under Vladimir Putin’s chilling regime after it was suggested he suffered a seizure in jail, say paramedics who saw his body.
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Hospital staff in Salekhard - close to the Polar Wolf jail where Navalny died - said they found a collection of bruises on his body when he arrived.
The corpse is now under police supervision in a morgue at Salekhard district clinical hospital, say Novaya Gazeta Europe.
No official autopsy has been performed yet.
If a person is convulsing and others try to hold him down but the convulsions are very strong, then bruising appears
paramedic
A paramedic, who works at the hospital where Navalny's body was sent, said: “As an experienced paramedic, I can say that the injuries described by those who saw them appeared to be from convulsions.
"If a person is convulsing and others try to hold him down but the convulsions are very strong, then bruising appears."
There were also signs that someone in the jail tried to save Navalny before he died as there was bruises on his chest showing signs of CPR.
The paramedic continued: “They still tried to resuscitate him, and he died, most likely, from cardiac arrest. But why this stop happened, no one is saying anything yet.”
Russia gave the official cause of death as "sudden death syndrome" yesterday, say Navalny's family and lawyer.
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His death was confirmed to be at 14.17 local time on February 16, according to a document given to Navalny's mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya.
Hospital pathologists were allegedly banned from performing an autopsy on his body, the source added.
Hundreds of Alexei Navalny protesters arrested as David Cameron calls for Putin to be 'held accountable' for 'murder'
As soon as his corpse arrived it was quickly transferred to the morgue and two cops were made to stand blocking off the door so no one could look inside, they continued.
The paramedic said: "Everyone wanted to know what had happened, what all the secrecy was about and whether they were trying to hide something serious."
His widow Yulia Navalnaya posted a message to her husband today in her first social media post since his death.
She went to Instagram with a photo of the pair followed by the heartbreaking caption: "I love you."
Navalny's mother went with his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh to say goodbye to his body at a different morgue they were told his body was being sent to.
But after arriving they were shocked to find his body was missing.
Russian authorities later announced they delayed the release of the body because they hadn't found the cause of death yet, prominent Navalny ally Ivan Zhdanov said.
Prison authorities in Russia said Navalny fell unconscious and died after a walk at the feared "Polar Wolf" jail, where he was serving a three-decade sentence.
Navalny, Putin's leading domestic critic in Russia, had bravely challenged the tyrant's rule and his horrific war in Ukraine.
His supporters feared that he would be assassinated while behind bars.
Pictures show a woman believed to be Lyudmila at the brutal IK-3 Polar Wolf penal colony in northern Russia after the news of her son's death was announced.
She was seen travelling in a black car wearing a face mask and sunglasses to cover her identity.
A 'MYSTERIOUS' DEATH
Many are suspicious of the circumstances surrounding his death after he was seen laughing and joking with a judge on a video call on Thursday.
We knew that there was a risk, Alexei knew it as well. And yesterday they murdered him as they planned to do it three years ago
Kira Yarmysh
His family also said he was in good health when they visited him in jail just three days before his death.
He had been “cheerful and healthy” in the days before his death.
"We knew that there was a risk, Alexei knew it as well. And yesterday they murdered him as they planned to do it three years ago", said Yarmysh.
Respected Russian political analyst Ekaterina Shulman told Bild in Russian: “We don't have too many reasons to suspect a natural death.”
"We see an intentional murder in front of our eyes, not something else," she said.
“Not even death from hard conditions (in the Arctic jail).”
People in Russia have said he could have potentially been drugged or poisoned inside the colony run by Colonel Vadim Kalinin, 51.
Former FSB colonel Gennady Gudkov, 67, an opposition politician like Navalny, backed these theories.
He said: “He was kept… in torture conditions.
“Either his body did not overcome such torture (or) they might have given some medication that causes heart failure, they could have given a poison.
“We will only learn the truth when Putin is gone. The fact that they killed him is beyond any doubt.”
The Kremlin's spies also allegedly visited Alexei Navalny's prison just days before he died.
A timeline by a human rights group detailed how several Russian spies from the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) are believed to have visited the 'Polar Wolf' prison on Wednesday.
They claimed that while there the spies disconnected and dismantled some of the security cameras and listening devices inside the bleak jail.
The group also said the speed Russian authorities announced Navalny's death was suspicious.
The dad-of-two was pronounced dead at 2.17pm but just two minutes later the prison put out a press release.
Then a mere four minutes after that a state-controlled channel on the Telegram messaging site claimed Navalny's cause of death was a blood clot, or thrombosis.
Seven minutes later Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesman, fronted the media about Navalny's death.
The Times reported the human rights organisation said: “This rapid timing can only mean one thing.
“Everything was pre-planned and co-ordinated, right down to the FSIN press release. Minute by minute. Second by second.”
What is sudden death syndrome?
SUDDEN death syndrome is a common killer across the world.
Also known as sudden arrhythmic death syndrome, it occurs when someone has a ‘ventricular arrhythmia’ - also known as a disturbance in the heart's rhythm.
The rhythm of our heartbeat is controlled by natural electrical activity in our heart cells and if this electrical current is disturbed it can result in a cardiac arrest.
There are a group of fairly rare diseases called ion channelopathies which can cause these potentially fatal disturbances.
They can only be detected when a person is alive and not during a post-mortem, studies show.
Research has indicated that around 500 deaths a year in the UK are because of sudden death syndrome.
COMMON SYMPTONS
- Chest pain
- Severe Breathlessness
- Heart palpitations
- Prolonged Dizziness
- Fainting
- Blackouts
Although sometimes there can be no symptoms whatsoever hence the chilling name.
WORLDWIDE REACTIONS
David Cameron scolded Vladimir Putin for his role in Navalny's death saying "we should hold Putin accountable" as he blasted Russia's "dreadful" regime.
He said: "There should be consequences... look what Putin's Russia did to him.
"He's died and that is because of the action that Putin's Russia took.
"No one can look at this regime now and not recognise it for the truly dreadful nature that it has."
US President Joe Biden said he was "outraged" but "not surprised" by the reports of Navalny's death and called the Kremlin "thugs".
Before blasting Russia saying: "Make no mistake, Putin is responsible for Navalny's death."
He added: "We don't know exactly what happened, but there is no doubt that the death of Nalvany was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did."
Latvian president Edgars Rinkevics raged on X that Navalny was "brutally murdered by the Kremlin".
And Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: "Obviously, Putin killed him".
Navalny's wife, Yulia, was in Munich on Friday, where a vigil also took place.
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She told the Munich Security Conference she could not be sure her husband was dead because "Putin and his government... lie incessantly".
A total of 231 people have been arrested in Russia for trying to place flowers to honour Navalny or protesting over his death.
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