Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who died in custody, gave a speech to the EU Parliament. In it she warned against negotiations with President Vladimir Putin. “You are not dealing with a politician, but with a bloody monster,” she explained.
Putin is capable of anything, you cannot negotiate with him, she emphasized on Wednesday in Strasbourg. It can only be defeated with new methods, but not with resolutions or sanctions, she explained, referring to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Navalny was ‘tortured’ for years
Referring to her husband, who died in Russian custody at the age of 47, Navalnaya said that after his arrest he was “tortured” for three years at Putin’s insistence and eventually killed. The opposition activist’s widow described his body as “mistreated”.
‘Mistreated’ after death
“He died of hunger in a small stone cell, closed off from the outside world. He was denied visits, phone calls and even letters. And then they killed him. Even after that, they still abused his body and abused his mother,” Navalny said, according to the English text of the speech published by Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysch. Authorities had refused to hand over her son’s body to Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, for days.
Navalny died unexpectedly on February 16 in the ‘Polar Wolf’ prison camp in Siberia. Russian authorities gave a natural cause of death. They rejected accusations of state interference. Navalny’s supporters and leading Western politicians blame Putin for the opposition politician’s death. Navalnaya’s speech was received with prolonged applause from parliamentarians.
Fear of arrests at funeral
Navalny will be buried in Moscow on Friday. Navalnaya said she was unsure whether the funeral and memorial service would be peaceful or whether police would intervene.
Navalny was Russia’s best-known opposition figure and one of Putin’s fiercest critics. He mainly denounced corruption and greed and described the state leadership as ‘crooks and thieves’. His posts online have been viewed millions of times. He was sentenced to more than 30 years in prison.
Source: Krone
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