France is demanding an “independent and in-depth” investigation into the prison death of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, for which it holds Russian authorities fully responsible, according to a French foreign ministry statement released today.
“France holds the Russian authorities fully responsible for the death of Alexei Navalny, whose detention conditions had greatly worsened after his transfer to a penal colony, and demands an independent and thorough investigation into his death,” writes the deputy representative of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The dissident and number one rival of President Vladimir Putin died last Friday, February 16 at the age of 47 in a prison in the Arctic, where he was serving a 19-year sentence after returning to Russia in early 2021, causing a global sensation.
❝Alexei #Navalny showed us through his courage that #Russia is not Putin and #Putin is not Russia.
At the @EUCouncilwe expressed our condolences and support to Yulia, his wife. She is continuing her husband’s fight.❞ https://t.co/FO9N4WbX1U
— France Diplomacy 🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@francediplo_EN) February 20, 2024
The ambassador of Russia in France was summoned yesterday, Monday 19/02, to Saint d’Orsay, the deputy representative said.
“France calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners in Russia and particularly expresses its keen concern for the critical state of health of opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was sentenced last year to 25 years in prison,” he added.
The opposition figure nearly died after being poisoned twice in 2015 and 2017, assassination attempts he attributed to Russian power. His supporters are worried about his health.
Source: RES-MPE
#Alexei #Navalny #France #demands #independent #investigation #death
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/metroworldnews/7D66N3LE2RBPFJUUWW3VVDJSR4.jpeg "Arévalo meets with President of France, Emmanuel Macron – Publinews
– 2024-02-21 13:44:51")
