Over 46,000 people demand Russian Investigative Committee release Alexey Navalny’s body

More than 46,000 people have contacted the Russian Investigative Committee to demand it hand over Alexey Navalny’s body to his relatives, less than two days after the human rights project OVD-Info first called on Russians to do so.

Russian officials and prison administrators have given Navalny’s relatives conflicting information about the location of his body and have so far refused to give it up. According to human rights lawyer Eva Levenberg, the authorities have launched a procedural review that will give them a total of 30 days before they are required to hand it over. A source who spoke to Novaya Gazeta Europe said that the body is in a hospital morgue in the town of Salekhard and that it has bruises consistent with a seizure or restraint during convulsions.