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Alexey Navalny’s widow says Russia “hiding his body, refusing to give it to his mother”
Adding to the anguish felt by the late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s family, his mother and his team have reportedly been denied access to his body and told by investigators that the official probe into his death is being extended, and it’s unclear how long it will take.
“They are cowardly and meanly hiding his body, refusing to give it to his mother,” Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the fierce Kremlin critic said in a video statement four days after Russian prison authorities announced his death in prison — which they attributed to “sudden death syndrome.”
Navalnaya, who lives in exile outside Russia, accused the Russian authorities of “lying miserably while waiting for the trace of another Putin’s Novichok to disappear,” referring to a poison allegedly used by Russian security services in at least one previous politically motivated assassination attempt.
Navalnaya urged Russians “to share not only the grief and endless pain that has enveloped and gripped us — but also my rage,” as she vowed to continue with her husband’s mission to reveal Putin’s alleged misdeeds and end his long reign of power over Russia.
A spokeswoman for Navalny, in a social media post, also accused that Russian officials of lying and “playing for time,” as authorities continued to crack down on tributes to the late dissident.
At Moscow’s Solovetsky Stone — a monument to victims of political repression — people laid flowers in memory of Navalny.
But in Putin’s Russia, that repression is everywhere, and the tributes, along with dozens of others left across the nation, were quickly swept away. Hundreds of people who have dared to honor Navalny publicly since he died on Friday have been arrested.
“I think it illustrates a deep mourning among the people who were supporters of Navalny, which was a large section of Russians,” Russia analyst Jeff Hawn told CBS News, adding that many of those people “believe they’ve now lost hope, because, in many ways, Navalny was able to bring together a broad coalition of people who wanted a Russia that was a normal, a more normal country.”
Navalny was last seen alive just one day before his death, appearing from prison via remote video link for a court appearance.
He looked gaunt but seemingly healthy and in good spirits at the IK-3 “Polar Wolf” penal colony in Russia’s far north, where he was being held after a handful of convictions — all of which he, and his many supporters around the world, always dismissed as groundless and politically motivated.
Prison officials said he went for a walk Friday, felt suddenly ill and collapsed, and then could not be revived by prison medics. They later attributed it to “sudden death syndrome.”
Navalny’s allies, President Biden and many other world leaders, however, say Putin bears responsibility for his most prominent critic’s demise.
The Russian president was pictured smiling during a visit with factory workers shortly after the news of Navalny’s death broke on Friday, but he still hasn’t commented publicly.
After exposing corruption at almost every level of the Russian state, frequently targeting Putin himself, Navalny survived at least two poisoning attempts and spent years in some of Russia’s most notorious prisons before dying at 47, leaving behind his wife Yulia and two children.
World leaders, including Mr. Biden, have vowed to hold those responsible for Navalny’s death to account, but with Russians due to go to the polls in just a few weeks and Putin all but certain to secure yet another full term, accountability at any level appeared a long way off on Monday.
CBS News
Christopher Ciccone, artist and Madonna’s younger brother, dies at 63
Christopher Ciccone, an artist and former dancer who was also singer Madonna’s younger brother, has died, his rep Brad Taylor confirmed to CBS News. He was 63.
He died from cancer on Oct. 4, surrounded by his husband, Ray Thacker, Taylor said in a statement.
Born on Nov. 22, 1960, in Pontiac, Michigan, Ciccone was an artist, interior decorator and designer, who began his career as a dancer. He joined the Le Group de La Palace Royale in Ottawa in 1980 before moving to New York two years later to support his older sister’s music career as a backup dancer.
As Madonna’s career grew, Ciccone became more involved — serving as the art director on his sister’s Blond Ambition World Tour in 1990 and as the tour director for her The Girlie Show in 1993. He also directed music videos for megastars Dolly Parton and Tony Bennett in the 1990s.
His role expanded away from music when Ciccone took on the role of interior designer within the homes his sister owned and occupied in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles.
In 2012, Ciccone released his own shoe line, The Ciccone Collection, at London Fashion Week.
He told CBS News at the time that his goal is to make the brand “accessible to everybody” and not too pricey.
“The great thing about doing shoes is that potentially everyone could have a pair. When you’re doing art, there’s only one,” Ciccone said
Ciccone, who was openly gay, claimed that his sister outed him during her 1991 interview with The Advocate.
Ciccone released a tell-all autobiography called “Life With My Sister Madonna,” leading to reports that the two had been estranged, but Ciccone told CBS News in 2012 that he was glad he wrote the book.
“I don’t regret any of that,” he said. “I think because of that it sort of led me to this. It gave people an opportunity to think of me as a creative person, as an artist and not just as Madonna’s brother, which is a tag I’m going to wear forever,” Ciccone said in 2012. “But I’m hopeful that at some point it will be Christopher Ciccone first. It’s cool…I’m perfectly happy being what I am.”
The two eventually made up.
“Our relationship is fine as far as I’m concerned,” he told CBS News.
Ciccone and Thacker — a British-born actor — married in 2016.
Ciccone’s death comes fewer than two weeks after the death of his and Madonna’s stepmother, Joan Clare Ciccone, from cancer. His eldest brother Anthony died in 2023.
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One year after Oct. 7 attack, the toll on civilians remains high
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Open: This is “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Oct. 6, 2024
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