Navalny’s mother calls for ‘justice’ after Europeans say he died of poisoning

The mother of deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Monday she felt vindicated by a European assessment that her son died of poisoning and called for “justice”, as his supporters marked two years since his death in prison.

Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest domestic opponent, died in an Arctic prison colony in February 2024 while serving a 19-year sentence.

Britain, Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands issued a joint statement on Saturday saying they believed he had been poisoned with epibatidine, a toxin found in poison dart frogs.

They based their assessment on samples taken from his body, the statement said.

“This confirms what we knew from the very beginning. We knew that our son did not simply die in prison, he was murdered,” Navalny’s mother Lyudmila Navalnaya told reporters, including AFP, outside the cemetery where he was buried in Moscow.

“I think it will take some time, but we will find out who did it. Of course, we want this to happen in our country, and we want justice to prevail,” she added.

The Kremlin has not yet commented on the European statement but has consistently denied involvement in his death.

Dozens of people visited his grave early Monday, among them foreign diplomats, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

Some of those who attended wore masks or scarves over their faces.

Russian authorities designated Navalny and his organisation “extremist” before his death, and anyone who mentions him or his exiled anti-corruption foundation are liable for prosecution.

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