Navalny’s widow publishes letter on cause of his death

Yulia Navalnaya has rejected the official explanation for her husband’s passing and is demanding a criminal investigation.

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, has published a letter sent to her by Russia’s Investigative Committee, detailing the causes for her husband’s sudden passing earlier this year.

Navalny died at a penal colony in February while serving a sentence. The prison authorities said the 47-year-old suddenly fell ill after a walk and collapsed, and that efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.

According to the letter shared by Navalnaya, the politician died as a result of a “combined illness,” which included “hypertension with vascular and organ damage, diffuse myocardial sclerosis complicated by the development of cerebral edema, ventricular fibrillation and pulmonary edema.”

It’s noted that Navalny also had several concomitant diseases and conditions, including chronic pancreatitis, chronic cholecystitis, chronic gastritis, chronic hepatitis with cysts of the right and left lobes of the liver, osteochondrosis and several hernias, as well as encephalopathy, herpes and the presence of Staphylococcus aureus in the trachea.

The investigators concluded that Navalny’s death “was not criminal in nature” and was instead “arrhythmogenic” with the triggering factor being a “critical increase in blood pressure.”

Yuliya Navalnaya has dismissed the official findings, insisting that her husband never had any heart diseases during his lifetime. She also complained that she has still not been handed over any of Navalny’s personal belongings, suggesting that the reason for this is that he was killed and that those responsible are trying to “cover their tracks.”

Meanwhile, Moscow’s Basmanny Court issued an arrest warrant for Navalnaya last month, charging her with being part of an extremist group and accusing her of “evading” law enforcement authorities.

Navalnaya left Russia in 2021 together with her children shortly after her husband’s arrest and has lived abroad ever since. She has nonetheless pledged to continue her late husband’s work.