The Wife Of The Late Russian Opposition Leader Navalny Rejected Findings That Said Her Husband Died Of Illness

Yulia Navalnaya. (Wikimedia Commons/European Parliament)

JAKARTA - The wife of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said on Thursday investigators had told her about her husband's death in an Arctic prison colony in the Month of Februai caused by complications of various diseases, which he refused because it was considered unreasonable.

Yulia Navalnaya said she would sue for a criminal investigation into the death of her husband, whom she considers a murder, while Navalny's team will continue to carry out its own investigation.

Through social media, Yulia Navalnaya published a copy of the three-page official letter she received last week, stating that there was no criminal condition behind the death of her husband and therefore there was no reason to open an investigation.

The letter was signed by Alexander Varapayev, the same investigative official who, according to Navalnaya, initially refused to hand over her husband's body to her mother unless she agreed to bury him in secret - a charge she rejected.

The letter said Navalny suddenly fell ill while walking in the prison yard, and was taken to the medical unit where staff tried to save him with an "indirect heart massage and artificial breathing" but was unsuccessful. The emergency team was sent, but was also unable to save him.

Navalnaya said the version was a lie and an attempt to cover it up.

"We know very well that when Alexei fell ill, he was not taken to the medical unit, but returned to the punishment cell. He was dying there, alone. He was taken to the medical unit unconscious. In the last minutes before his death, he complained of severe stomach pain. Why is all of this not in the resolution of the Investigative Committee?", he wrote.

However, she did not say how she and her husband's supporters had set the sequence of events she described.

The official letter said the cause of Navalny's death was "disease combination" which was presented on the long list, ranging from hypertension and pancreatitis to spinal damage to his spine and the presence of fear virus in the lungs and runoff.

It said the trigger for death was a severe increase in blood pressure that had disturbed his heart rhythm and burdened the pressure on his booths.

Navalnaya said "every third person in Russia" had a chronic illness as stated in the report, and "people did not die suddenly from something like that within an hour". He also opposed the diagnosis of heart arrhythmias.

"Tell me, how did you find this arrhythmia during an autopsy? Heart rhythm disorders are uncertain after death, and during his lifetime Alexei did not have any heart disease," he explained.

He said Navalny looked excited and cheerful when he appeared via video link at court before his death. And if he really had so many illnesses, he asked, "why was such a severe sick person sent to the sentencing cell and detained there for months?"

Navalnaya demanded the opening of a criminal case, although he said there would be no investigation as long as Putin was still in power.

"Therefore, we will continue to investigate on our own," he wrote, urging staff and prison officials to contact his team in secret and pledging to pay for any new information.

Navalny (47) died suddenly on February 16, making Russia's opposition lose its most charismatic and popular leader.

He has served a sentence of more than 30 years on charges he has made up to silence his criticism of President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin firmly rejects accusations by Navalny's supporters who say President Putin has killed him.