Aleksei A. Navalny's political allies confirmed his death on Saturday and said his mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, received official notification of her son's death on Friday afternoon. The confirmation came as Russian officials detained hundreds of people mourning his death.
Mr. Navalny's family was still waiting for officials to release the body. Kira Yarmysh, Mr Navalny's spokeswoman, said in a statement on X that Russian investigators had transferred Mr Navalny's body from an Arctic penal colony to the city of Salekhard, where it was being examined.
“We demand the immediate return of Aleksei Navalny’s body to his family,” Ms. Yarmysh said in her statement.
The arrests of Mr. Navalny's mourners signaled that the Kremlin wanted to prevent his death from becoming a political event. At least 340 people have been arrested in 30 cities since the death was announced on Friday, according to OVD Info, a human rights group that tracks such arrests.
In Moscow, hundreds of Russians came to the “Wall of Mourning” monument to commemorate the victims of political repression in Russia. They were confronted with a heavy police presence. Overnight, Moscow city authorities removed piles of flowers that people had left in memory of Mr. Navalny.
Mr. Navalny's mother and one of his lawyers arrived at the penal colony in the Kharp settlement on Saturday morning, Ms. Yarmysh said in a video statement. She and others had to wait two hours until a prison official came out and said that Mr. Navalny's body had been transferred to Salekhard.
Ivan Zhdanov, the head of Mr. Navalny's anti-corruption foundation, said in a post
In Salekhard, a regional center near the penal colony, Mr. Navalny's mother and his lawyer noted that the local morgue was closed. When they called, officials said that Mr. Navalny's body was not there, Ms. Yarmysh said. Another lawyer was told that “additional histology” had been carried out to determine the cause of Mr Navalny’s death and that the results should be available next week.
“They lie and do everything not to hand over the body,” Ms. Yarmysh said.
In a separate video address, Ms. Yarmysh accused Russian President Vladimir V. Putin of killing Mr. Navalny.
“Three and a half years ago, Putin tried to kill Aleksei,” Ms. Yarmysh said, referring to the poisoning of Mr. Navalny with a nerve agent in 2020. “Yesterday he killed him.”
Ms. Yarmysh is a member of a team of Mr. Navalny's allies. They worked from outside Russia and continued his work after his poisoning and subsequent imprisonment by publishing his statements and organizing political events.
Prison authorities said Mr. Navalny fell unconscious and died after a walk in the penal colony where he was transferred in late December.
In their statement on his death, prison authorities said the cause of death was “under investigation.” Local investigators said they had begun a “procedural review” of Mr. Navalny’s death. They said: “A series of investigative and operational measures are being carried out to clarify all the circumstances surrounding the incident.”
Yevgeny Smirnov, a Russian lawyer, said this meant a forensic medical examination of Mr Navalny's body would likely be carried out. Relatives could only bring the body back for burial once the cause of death was officially determined, Mr. Smirnov said.
According to Public Verdict, a Russian human rights group, such medical examinations usually provide only very general causes of death.
“Such investigations absolutely cannot be trusted,” the group said in a statement.
After the body is recovered, relatives can bury it in a cemetery, the group said. Mr. Navalny's family members have not commented on possible funeral arrangements.