Navalny's attorney arrested in Moscow
Russian media outlets have reported that Vasily Dubkov, Alexei Navalny's attorney, who had been accompanying Navalny’s mother, has been arrested in Moscow.
Source: Russian news outlets SOTA; Novaya Gazeta Europe, a Russian socio-political newspaper; Vyorstka
Details: The Russian media outlets’ sources stated that according to early reports, Dubkov was detained for "violating public order".
Since Navalny's death, Dubkov has been accompanying his mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya.
Update: Vasily Dubkov told the media outlet Vyorstka that he had been released after being detained.
He made no comment on the reason for or the circumstances of his arrest, but noted that it had hindered his work as a lawyer.
Previously:
- On 25 February, Kyrylo Budanov, Head of Ukraine's Defence Intelligence, stated that Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny had died of natural causes, namely a blood clot.
- On 26 February, Maria Pevchikh, the chair of the Anti-Corruption Foundation formerly headed by Alexei Navalny, said that an agreement had been made to swap the opposition politician in a prisoner exchange, but he died in prison while the negotiations were in the final stages.
Background:
- On the afternoon of 16 February, Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service reported the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at Correctional Facility No. 3 in Kharp, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, in northwestern Siberia.
- Alexei Navalny had been imprisoned since early 2021. The Moscow City Court sentenced him to 19 years in prison in a special-regime colony for "extremism" in August 2023.
- On the morning of 19 February, Lyudmila Navalnaya arrived at the morgue in the town of Salekhard where the body of her son, opposition politician Alexei Navalny, was allegedly kept. Neither she nor her lawyers were allowed in. On 20 February, Lyudmila recorded a video appeal to Putin, demanding the release of her son's body so that she could bury him.
- On 23 February, Lyudmila reported that the prison administration had threatened to bury her son's body in the penal colony unless she agreed to a secret, quiet burial.
- On 24 February, the Russian jailers finally handed over Navalny’s body to his mother.
This news has been updated since publication.
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