More than 400 people have been detained in Russia while mourning opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who officials said died in prison last week, according to a rights group that monitors political arrests.
Russian officials announced on Friday that Navalny — who was serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges — died in the prison facility above the Arctic Circle on the Yamal Peninsula, where he was transferred in December. News of his death sparked demonstrations around the world and in Russia, where many hoped that the longtime critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin could take him on in the future.
The OVD-Info rights group, which monitors political arrests and hands out legal aid, said 401 people have been detained across three dozen cities in Russia by Saturday night, according to a tracker on its website. The group said more than 200 of those arrests were made in Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg, according to AP.
Grigory Mikhnov-Voitenko, a priest of the Apostolic Orthodox Church, was among those arrested in St. Petersburg, according to the group. He had previously announced plans to hold a memorial service for Navalny and was arrested Saturday morning outside his home, The Associated Press reported.
The group noted the priest had a stroke and was later hospitalized after his arrest. The AP reported that 42 of those detained on Friday in St. Petersburg were ordered to serve one to six days in jail, while nine others were fined, according to court officials.
Questions remain around the cause of Navalny’s death, with the opposition leader’s team saying he was “murdered,” according to AP. It remains unclear when Russian authorities would release Navalny’s body to his family.
President Biden on Friday blamed Putin for the death of Navalny, which comes about a month before a presidential election in Russia that will likely hand Putin another term. Biden said while he does not know what happened to Navalny, his death “was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
“But make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. Putin is responsible. What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin’s brutality. No one should be fooled,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed