Jailed Russian activist says he fears for life after Navalny death

Ilya Yashin gestures prior to a hearing in Moscow, in 2022. Photograph: Yury Kochetkov/AP

Another jailed member of Russia’s opposition has said that he fears for his life after the death of Alexei Navalny, as the Kremlin critic’s widow Yulia has demanded that the Kremlin release his body so that he can be “buried with dignity”.

Navalnaya has publicly accused Vladimir Putin of ordering the murder of her late husband and said that investigators are now holding his body in order to cover up a political assassination.

After the Kremlin dismissed her remarks as “unfounded accusations,” Navalnaya said: “I don’t care how the killer’s press secretary comments on my words. Give Alexei’s body back and let him be buried with dignity. Do not prevent people from saying goodbye to him.

“And I really ask all journalists who may still ask questions: don’t ask about me, ask about Alexei.”

Lyudmila Navalnaya, his mother, also appealed to Putin on Tuesday to release her son’s body so he can be “buried humanely”.

Navalnaya said in a message broadcast on social media: “For a fifth day I cannot see him, they aren’t giving me his body and don’t even tell me where he is.

“I appeal to you, Vladimir Putin. Resolving this issue depends on you alone. Let me finally see my son … I demand that Alexei’s body be released immediately so that I can bury him humanely.”

Russia’s prison authorities reported on Friday that Navalny felt unwell after a walk and soon became unconscious at the prison in the town of Kharp. An ambulance arrived, but he could not be revived, the service claimed, adding that the cause of death was still “being established”.

His mother and a lawyer have for four days been unable to retrieve his body from investigators, who said they may not return it for two weeks as they run “tests”. Supporters believe that he was murdered, either as an act of foul play or through systematic mistreatment over three years in the Russian prison system.

Navalny’s team said that Russian law enforcement have also issued a new arrest warrant for Oleg Navalny, the brother of the late opposition leader.

Navalny’s death in a Russian prison sent a shockwave through opposition circles last week, but some of his closest allies in prison are only learning the news now.

In a letter from prison, opposition member Ilya Yashin wrote that he had only learned of Navalny’s death on Monday.

“It’s hard to convey my shock,” wrote Yashin, who had known Navalny for more than a decade. “It’s hard to collect my thoughts. The pain and horror are unbearable.”

Yashin was sentenced to prison for eight years for publishing reports about the Russian military’s commission of war crimes in Bucha in 2022. He told the Guardian in letters from prison that he believed that Putin had gone “mad from power”.

On Tuesday, he compared Navalny’s death with that of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down near the Kremlin walls.

“Now both my friends are dead,” he said. “I feel a black emptiness inside. And, of course, I understand my own risks. I am behind bars, my life is in Putin’s hands, and it is in danger. But I will continue to push my line.”

He said he was sure that Putin had ordered the murder of Navalny behind bars.

“For me, there is no question: who killed [Navalny]?” wrote Yashin. “I have no doubt that it was Putin. He’s a war criminal. Navalny was his key opponent in Russia and was hated by the Kremlin. Putin had both motive and opportunity. I am convinced that he ordered the killing.”

Navalny supporters reported on Tuesday that Putin had promoted a senior penitentiary official who had been responsible for Navalny’s mistreatment in a prison in the Vladimir region.

Deputy director of Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service, Valery Boyarinev, was given the rank of colonel general, according to a statement signed by Putin.

The promotion was a “personal award from Putin for torture and murder,” wrote Ivan Zhdanov, a lawyer and the head of Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation.

“Boyarinev personally supervised the torture of Alexei Navalny in prison,” wrote Zhdanov. “Boyarinev’s personally ordered … the restriction of Alexei’s purchase of food, along with other tortures.”