Russian authorities have refused to launch a criminal investigation into the death of an opposition leader Alexei Navalny who died in a penal colony in the Arctic, his widow Yulia said on Thursday.
Navalny, the Russian president’s fiercest political enemy Vladimir Putindied in February in the remote northern prison colony while serving a prison sentence 19 years in prison for extremism that he had condemned as politically motivated. Authorities said he fell ill after a walk, but have not provided further details about Navalny’s death.
Russian officials said only that Navalny died of natural causes shortly after a walk, and strongly denied any involvement in the poisoning or his death.
In a video posted on social media on Thursday, Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said she had received a letter from Russian investigators detailing the cause of her husband’s death.
In the video, Navalnaya says she was told Navalny died from a combination of “a dozen different illnesses.” Investigators told her Navalny ultimately died from arrhythmia, an irregular heartbeat.
Navalnaya disputed the version of events given by Russian authorities, saying her husband had not suffered from heart disease during his life.
The letter, Navalnaya said, was “a lie.”
“They are hiding what really happened that day… when Alexei fell ill, he was not taken to the medical ward, but back to the punishment cell.”
There, she said, Navalny died “alone.”
The document states that authorities will not open a criminal investigation into the opposition leader’s death because no crime has been committed, Navalnaya said.
“As long as Putin is in power, there will be no investigation,” said Navalnaya, who vowed to continue investigating the circumstances surrounding her husband’s death.
