Six months after the death of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny in a prison north of the Arctic, Russian authorities have formally concluded there was nothing suspicious about it.
A formal letter from the investigative committee for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, the region where the prison is located, states that Navalny’s death “was not criminal in nature” and occurred due to “combined diseases.”
It provided a laundry list of conditions, including hepatitis and pancreatitis. Combined with arrhythmia (an irregular heart beat), this caused his sudden death, the letter stated.
The document also rehashed an earlier version of events put forward by authorities that Navalny had fallen ill during a walk and medics called to the scene had tried to help him, to no avail.
The three-page document was shared online by Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya on Thursday, and could not be independently verified by POLITICO.
In a reaction on YouTube, Navalnaya called the explanation “pathetic” and a “mockery,” and said requests for access to autopsy results and video surveillance footage had been repeatedly denied.
“We’re expected to believe that Alexei, who was well enough to go outside for a walk in minus 20 degrees Celsius, died almost instantly?”
She also said she had evidence that Navalny had been locked back into his isolation cell after he fell ill “to die alone.”
Contrary to protocol, she added, Russian investigators are still refusing to return Navalny’s possessions to his family.
“There can be one explanation for this. Only one. He was murdered, and now they’re trying to cover their tracks as much as possible.”
A day before prison authorities announced Navalny’s death, the politician — widely seen as Vladimir Putin’s No. 1 foe — had seemed fit and in high spirits during a video-streamed court hearing.