Russian lawmaker asks prosecutors to launch criminal negligence probe into Alexey Navalny’s death

Viktor Vorobyov, a member of the regional parliament in Russia’s Komi Republic, has asked state prosecutors to conduct an investigation into possible criminal negligence at the prison where opposition politician Alexey Navalny died on Friday.

Meduza has obtained a copy of the request, which Vorobyov sent to the prosecutor’s office of Russia’s Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, where the prison is located. In the letter, the lawmaker says that Navalny’s death could have been caused by the prison’s failure to properly monitor his health, the inadequate medical assistance it provided, and the lack of sufficiently qualified medical personnel at the institution.

“Additionally, I would venture to say that one of the reasons for the rapid deterioration of A. A. Navalny’s health could have been the repeated decisions to place him in a punitive confinement cell on questionable grounds,” Vorobyov writes.