One of the lawyers of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in prison on February 16, 2024, has reportedly been arrested in Moscow. According to Russian media sources, Vasily Dubkov was arrested for “violating public order”.
After Navalny’s death, Mr Dubkov accompanied his mother to the Arctic prison colony, where he died on February 16, so that she could receive her son’s body. Russian authorities have not yet confirmed Mr Dubkov’s arrest. In October 2023, three other lawyers of Navalny – Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Lipster – were arrested on charges of “extremism”.
In January, Olga Mihailova, another lawyer for the opposition leader, said she was accused of the same offense and decided to remain in exile. Russian authorities banned the Anti-Corruption Foundation, the organization Navalny leads, for “extremism” in 2021.
What was the role of Vasily Dubkov
Vasily Dubkov had accompanied Ludmila Navalnaya to Salekhard, the capital of Russia’s Yamal-Nenets autonomous region, after her son’s death in the remote Polar Wolf prison, to collect his body.
News website Novaya Gazeta Europa reported that Dubkov was arrested in Moscow on administrative charges of misconduct. According to Sota media, he was taken to the police station of the Shcherbinsky district of Moscow. Three of Navalny’s lawyers were jailed in October 2023 on charges related to the Kremlin’s ban on “extremist” groups.
The body was handed over to his mother eight days after his death. Ms Navalnaya said she was threatened by the authorities, who wanted her son to be buried “secretly”. Navalny’s allies said they were looking for a place to hold a public memorial service for the former opposition leader.
No venue in Russia undertakes to host ceremony for Navalny – “Operation Антигона” (Antigone)
However, Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Jarmis said on Tuesday that most funeral homes they had contacted refused to allow a ceremony on their premises. “Some sites say that the sites are occupied, others deny when the name Navalny is mentioned. In one place we were told outright that funeral homes are prohibited from working with us,” Ms Jarmis wrote.
In a social media post on February 1, Navalny called on Russians to register their protest by coming together to vote at the same time, at noon on March 17.
A close ally of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny urged Russians on Tuesday to take part en masse in a protest against President Vladimir Putin next month, which Navalny had called for shortly before his death. The Kremlin warned there would be legal consequences for anyone who heeded what it called a provocative call by “dangerous US-backed extremists”.
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