Putin critic Alexei Navalny likely killed with 'single punch to heart'
Human rights campaigner Alexei Navalny may have been "killed with a single punch to the heart" when he was a prisoner in a correctional colony last week. Gulagu.net founder and human rights advocate Vladimir Osechkin told the Times of London, "It is an old method of the KGB's special forces divisions." "They taught their operators that a single blow to the middle of the body, the man's heart, would kill him. It was a distinguishing feature of the KGB," he said.
The activist said that Navalny was purposefully subjected to below-freezing conditions for a prolonged amount of time prior to the fatal hit to weaken his body, citing an unidentified source within the prison colony.
He told the Times of London, "I believe that they first destroyed his body by keeping him out in the cold for a long time and slowing the blood circulation down to a minimum."
According to the Russian jail service, Alexei Navalny, a well-known opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, passed away on february 16 in the Polar Wolf prison colony in the Arctic after passing out.
He told the Times of London, "I believe that they first destroyed his body by keeping him out in the cold for a long time and slowing the blood circulation down to a minimum."
According to the Russian jail service, Alexei Navalny, a well-known opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, passed away on february 16 in the Polar Wolf prison colony in the Arctic after passing out.
Although a death notification given to Navalny's family cited "sudden death syndrome," a word usually associated with sudden cardiac deaths, the Russian prison service has not yet released an official cause of death.
Recognised as the leading opponent in Russia, Navalny rose to prominence more than a decade ago by accusing President Vladimir Putin's inner circle of corruption and condemning them.
Recognised as the leading opponent in Russia, Navalny rose to prominence more than a decade ago by accusing President Vladimir Putin's inner circle of corruption and condemning them.