Following the death of Alexei Navalny, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of various Russian cities to pay their last respects to him.
Russian police began a wave of arrests following clashes between Navalny’s supporters and law enforcement. At least 400 were arrested in just a few hours in some of the largest cities of Russia in an attempt to suppress expressions of support for the late opposition leader. The human rights organization OVD-Info, which tracks political arrests and provides legal support, claims that more than 200 individuals were arrested in St. Petersburg, the second-largest city in Russia.
One of the detainees was the priest Grigory Mikhnov-Vaitenko of the Apostolic Orthodox Church, who had announced his Intentions to hold a memorial service for Navalny on social media. He was arrested on Saturday morning outside his house and charged with organizing an illegal assembly. OVD-Info reports that he was later hospitalized for a stroke.
Some of those detained have already been brought to a judge, some have already been sentenced to several days of incarceration, and some have been fined significant sums. It is estimated that Russia will shortly see many more citizens going out to pay their respects to Navalny, accompanied by additional confrontations with law enforcement and further arrests.
The team that accompanied Navalny in his struggle against the Moscow regime stated on Saturday that he had been murdered, and noted that despite the prison in which he had been held having cameras covering all parts of the prison, no footage had been released of his death.
Navalny’s associates blamed the authorities for deliberately delaying the release of the body and forcing the family to travel from place to place in unsuccessful attempts to receive the body. “They literally lie every time, driving us around in circles and covering their tracks,” said Kira Yarmysh, Nvalny’s former press secretary and the current spokesperson for his family.