Alexei Navalny's death has been officially confirmed as investigators demand his body be handed over to his family.
Lyudmila Navalnaya, Alexei Navalny's mother, traveled to the harsh IK-3 Polar Wolf prison colony in northern Russia after learning of her son's unexpected death on Friday.
After falling abruptly yesterday, Lyudmila Navalnaya was seen driving a black sedan toward the harsh Arctic camp where her son is believed to have died, according to daily mail.
She was dressed in protective gear, including sunglasses and a mask.
According to a document given to him, Navalny died on February 16 at 2:17 p.m. local time.
This morning, a representative for Navalny confirmed his death and said his body was in the hands of investigators.
Navalny's team later claimed that the body was not in the morgue, despite what officials had claimed.
Russia has seen a wave of vigils and demonstrations in response to the unexpected death of Putin's most vocal opponent, which forced police to use force and resulted in 15 arrests in Moscow alone.
More than 100 people have been held by Russian police in impromptu memorials since Navalny's death became known on Friday, OVD-Info, a human rights organization, reported on Saturday.
Late on Friday, images on social media across Russia showed people gathering to lay flowers at temporary monuments, but in some cases the gathering resulted in police arrests.
As of February 17, “more than 101 people” had already been detained in 10 cities, including 64 in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, OVD-Info said.
Russian laws against dissent prohibit protests, and officials have cracked down on pro-Navalny demonstrations especially harshly.
Authorities in the Russian capital issued a warning to residents on Friday, saying they were aware of calls on the Internet “to participate in a mass demonstration in the center of Moscow” and that they should not go.
Additionally, Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky issued a warning to opponents of Putin's dictatorship at the Munich Security Conference in Germany this morning, prompting Russia to respond strongly.
