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In a dramatic turn of events, the body of Alexei Navalny has been discovered following yesterday's thriller where his relatives claimed he was not returned to them by Russian authorities.
As reported by The Telegraph, Navalny's body was found at a morgue in a hospital in the Arctic Circle, showing signs of bruises. A paramedic informed opposition Russian media that there were bruises on Navalny's head and chest when his body was transferred to the regional clinic of Salekhard.
"Such injuries, as described by those who saw them, appear to be from seizures," said an anonymous paramedic to the exiled newspaper Novaya Gazeta. "The individual had spasms, they were trying to restrain him, and bruises appeared. They also said he had a bruise on his chest. In other words, they tried to resuscitate him and he likely died from cardiac arrest."
Russian prison officials stated that Navalny died on Friday after feeling unwell during a brief walk in IK-3, a notoriously violent prison in the Russian Arctic. Navalny's mother failed to find his body at the Salekhard morgue on Saturday, and his colleagues at the Anti-Corruption Foundation accused Russian authorities of cover-up.
Subsequently, Russian authorities claimed Navalny died from "sudden death syndrome." Journalists reported that an autopsy had not yet been performed. They also mentioned that two emergency flights from Moscow had landed in Salekhard on Saturday, possibly with experts for the autopsy.
"The first aircraft landed around six in the evening. It was met by vehicles of the Investigative Committee. And the second arrived an hour and a half later," reported Novaya Gazeta, citing an anonymous source.
Navalny was the most prominent opponent of Vladimir Putin. Western leaders have accused the Kremlin of his murder. He faced three decades in prison on various charges and was transferred to IK-3 shortly before Christmas.
OVD-Info, a Russian activist group monitoring the Russian police, stated that 400 people have now been arrested across Russia, mainly for laying flowers for Navalny at sites of Soviet repression.
[With information sourced from 24 News, The Telegraph]
