Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the recently deceased Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny, will travel to Brussels on Monday where she will meet European foreign ministers as well as the President of the European Council Charles Michel.
The invitation addressed to Ms. Navalnaya sends “a strong message of support for freedom fighters in Russia” and “honors the memory of Navalny”, wrote the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell on X (formerly Twitter).
After Friday’s announcement of her husband’s death in a Siberian penal colony, Navalny’s widow spoke at the Munich Security Conference, calling on the international community to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to justice. According to the independent Russian-speaking newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europe, the body of Alexei Navalny is in the morgue of the district hospital of Salekhard, a city in northern Siberia.
No autopsy would have been carried out on the opponent until Saturday, according to the opposition newspaper based in Latvia. Novaya Gazeta also reports that an anonymous informant from the emergency services reported blue marks on the body of the deceased. Navalny’s relatives have not yet been able to access his remains. According to Russian authorities, Navalny collapsed during physical exercise in the extreme cold. Resuscitation attempts reportedly failed.
Navalny’s unexpected death in the “Polar Wolf” prison sparked international outrage. For human rights defenders, it is nothing more and nothing less than murder. Joe Biden said Friday he was “scandalized” by the death of the Russian opponent, a “powerful voice for the truth”, and affirmed that Russian President Vladimir “Putin was responsible”.
This article is originally published on msn.com
