Questions arise over official reports of Navalny's death amid prison anomalies
As per the official reports, Navalny experienced ill health on February 16th right after his walk, subsequently losing consciousness quite urgently. An ambulance was supposed to have been dispatched immediately, but attempts for resuscitation proved unsuccessful.
10:54 AM EST, February 17, 2024
Meduza Portal, citing several Russian sources, including Baza, Mash, and WCzk-OGPU channels, reports that Navalny began to feel ill around 4:00 AM Eastern Time (5:00 AM Moscow time, Doctors announced him dead at 5:17 AM Eastern Time.
Discrepancies in the reported information
Navalny once stated that prison walks commenced early in the morning. The time mentioned for the onset of his illness coincides with the prison meal distribution time.
Gulag.net Project sheds light on the chain of events. According to the information they gathered, Navalny's death was pronounced at 5:17 AM. Just two minutes later, the official report from the prison services was published. Another minute following, at 5:20 AM, state media outlets TASS and RIA Novosti reported Navalny's death. At 5:23 AM, unofficial news circulated claiming the cause of death to be a detached blood clot. The Kremlin's spokesperson provided the first comment just 13 minutes after Navalny's death.
Information from the prison
Meduza Portal, quoting Nowaja Gazeta, relayed information obtained from a prisoner. According to this individual, the stir within the colony started Thursday evening. By Friday, news regarding Navalny's death surfaced around 1:00 AM Eastern Time. At this point, no sound of ambulances was heard. They were reportedly only seen once the news of Navalny's death was already out.
Moreover, on February 16th, some surveillance cameras within the colony were non-functional, as per reports by Gulag.net Project, corroborated by documents they accessed. An unofficial source revealed that officers from the Federal Security Service (FSB), Putin's political police, had arrived at the gulag two days prior.