According to official documents, opposition politician Alexei Navalny died at 2.17pm on Friday afternoon local time.
At the same time, there are many question marks surrounding his death.
Now a prisoner who was imprisoned in the same penal colony as the regime critic states that he may have died earlier than that.
– We were locked in and told that you could not move between the barracks and security was strengthened. It was not even possible to stand out almost on the street, says the prisoner.
Novaya Gazeta newspaper has spoken to a prisoner who was imprisoned in the same penal colony in Siberia as Alexei Navalny. The prisoner believes that several odd things happened at the prison which indicate that he died earlier than stated.
– I think Navalny died much earlier than the time announced. Most likely last night, the prisoner is said to have said the day the death notice came.
Ambulances arrived after he died
The night before Navalny’s death was announced, more guards were deployed at the colony. The daily check was carried out faster than usual and the prisoners were not allowed to move between different departments.
– We were locked in and told that you could not move between the barracks and security was strengthened. It was not even possible to stand out almost on the street, says the prisoner.
A commission also arrived at the penal colony at the time of Navalny’s death, which the prisoner believes indicates that he was dead earlier than what was communicated to the outside. Ambulances also reportedly appeared only after Navalny was said to have died.
The prisoner: Probably came as a surprise
For the newspaper, the prisoner states that he believes that the news of the death came unexpectedly even for the head of the penal colony and that the employees are not involved in the death.
At the same time, according to the fellow prisoners, there is the possibility that the management was forced to carry out an order that they did not want to carry out.
Navalny’s spokesperson writes on X that the family has not been able to see the body yet and says that they are now trying to avoid releasing it. Spokesperson Kira Jarmysh now demands that the body be handed over to the family.
When the mother and her lawyer arrived at the morgue her son was said to be at, the body was not there. The mother also stated to Novaya Gazeta that she met her son five days ago, then he must have been healthy and in a good mood.