According to the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Russian opposition member Alexej Navalny was questioned by the Berlin public prosecutor “as a victim witness”. A spokesman for the ministry said on Friday in Berlin that this happened on Thursday as part of legal assistance proceedings. Navalny himself had written on his Telegram channel the day before that he had spent half the day with “the German public prosecutor’s office”.
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At Navalny’s request, no Russian investigators were present during the questioning. “Mr. Navalny was poisoned in Russia and he has expressly objected to the presence of Russian investigators when he was questioned,” the spokesman said. This approach corresponds to the European Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance. The interrogation does not mean the approval of one or more requests for mutual assistance.
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The spokesman reiterated the German government’s stance and demanded: “This crime must be investigated in Russia. This requires investigations that are commensurate with the gravity of this crime. All the necessary information such as blood and tissue samples and items of clothing are available in Russia.”
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The German government did not want to comment on statements made by Russian President Vladimir Putin the day before about the Navalny case. Putin had said to Navalny’s allegations that a “killer squad” from the domestic intelligence service FSB had poisoned him: “Who is he? If someone had wanted that, he would have done it too.” Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in response to a question: “These are statements that stand for themselves that I will not comment on here.”
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