EU, US and 17 other countries call for international investigation into Navalni’s death

More than forty countries, including all of the European Union, USA and the United Kingdomthey have asked before the UN Human Rights Council an independent and transparent investigation into the death of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalni, who died on February 16 in captivity.

“The unexpected and shocking death of Navalni is another symptom of the growing and systematic repression in Russia”indicated a joint statement signed so far by 45 governments and read before the Council by the EU ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Lotte Knudsen.

“Ultimate responsibility for Navalny’s death rests with the Russian president.” Vladimir Putin and the country’s authorities,” added the official note, which also has the support of Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, New Zealand, Norway and Ukraine, among others.

In the same statement, the signatories demanded the immediate and unconditional release of other political prisoners such as Yuri Dimitriev, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Ilia Yashin and Alexei Gorinov, “as well as human rights defenders, journalists and opponents of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

The note calls on the Russian Federation to end the “climate of impunity”creating “a safe environment for political opposition and critical voices, including journalists, defenders of fundamental freedoms and social activists.”

The Russian authorities, who attributed Navalni’s death to “natural causes”repeatedly denied calls for an international investigation into his death, which occurred two months after he was transferred to a penal colony in the Arctic, in extreme conditions for many prisoners.

The 47-year-old opposition leader was buried last Friday, March 1, in Moscow, at a funeral in which many of his supporters defied the authorities and came to the funeral to show their support for the politician.