Not an illness, but a violent murder. Il Timesciting Vladimir Osechkinfounder of the human rights group Gulagu.netdistorts the story provided by the Russian authorities on the sudden death of the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny in prison, stating that the opponent did not die from a “sudden death syndrome“, as officially declared, or by poisoning by Novichokas hypothesized by his team instead: Navalny was killed with a punch to the heart.
If Osechkin’s claims are confirmed, it would not be an unusual technique in Russia. The former Kgb Soviet Union, in the past, killed people in this way: exposing the victims for hours to freezing temperatureswhich could have happened during what Moscow defined as the “stroll” of Navalny before his death, the Russian secret agents were able to kill them instantly by throwing a precise punch at the heart level, causing a fatal hemorrhage.
Osechkin cites a source who works in the Arctic penal colony where Navalny died on Friday and according to whom bruises found on the opponent’s body are compatible with the “single punch” technique. Before his death, Navalny, 47, had been forced to spend more than two and a half hours outdoors, where the temperature could drop to as low as -27 degreessaid the founder of Gulagu.net. As a rule, however, prisoners are not kept outdoors for more than an hour. This would explain why, according to the testimonies of family members, the fact that Navalny died during the day contrasts with his habits inside the penal colony, with the hour of air usually granted in the very early morning.
Meanwhile, the dissident’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnayadenounced the Russian Federation for “illegal acts” towards his son. A court in Russia’s far north will hear it next month. The woman, days after her death, is still prevented from seeing the body of her son. The head of Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation, Ivan Zhdanovannounced yesterday that the woman had filed the complaint accusing the Russian Investigative Committee of inaction in handing over the dissident’s body.