Published 11:38 IST, September 22nd 2020
Kremlin critic Navalny demands Russia to return his clothes for investigation
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has demanded Russia to hand over the clothes he was wearing when he fell unconscious on a flight after alleged poisoning.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has asked Kremlin to hand over the clothes he was wearing when he fell unconscious on a flight after alleged poisoning. The anti-corruption campaigner has accused Kremlin of using “pre-investigation probe” to hide the important piece of evidence in the poisoning case, demanding Russia to return the clothes after packing it carefully in a plastic bag.
German health authorities had confirmed the poisoning of Navalny with a nerve agent from the Novichok group, citing toxicological test results. Later, specialist laboratories in France and Sweden also confirmed the poisoning with the Soviet-style nerve agent Novichok. Germany informed that the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is still investigating the cause independently.
“Before they allowed for me to be taken to Germany, they took off all my clothes and sent me completely naked,” Navalny wrote on his website.
“Considering Novichok was found on my body, and that infection through contact is very likely, my clothes are a very important piece of evidence,” he added.
Russia's reluctance
Navalny’s clothes are no longer in the hospital in Siberia’s Omsk, where he was initially admitted, as investigators took it with them, RIA news agency quoted local health ministry as saying. Russia has denied starting a formal criminal investigation into the alleged poisoning, saying they need more evidence and medical data from German health authorities.
Navalny's team said that the politician was poisoned at his hotel room in the Siberian city of Tomsk and not at the airport as suspected earlier. The team informed that they collected everything they could from the hotel room on the day he fell sick and sent it to Germany for investigation. The German laboratory found traces of Novichok agent on bottles collected from Navalny's room.
Meanwhile, the 44-year-old opposition figure is currently recovering in Berlin’s Charité hospital and recently shared a photograph of him walking down the stairs. In the Instagram update, Navalny wrote about his recovery status, saying it is already “a clear path albeit a long one.” He thanked doctors of the Charité hospital for turned him from a “technically alive person” into someone who can “quickly scroll through Instagram and understands without hesitation where to put likes.”
Updated 11:38 IST, September 22nd 2020