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Lawyer Vasily Dubkov with Lyudmila Navalnaya, the late politician's mother

Photo: Maxim Shemetov / REUTERS

Russian lawyer Vasily Dubkov has apparently been arrested in Moscow.

This is reported by Russian media such as Novaya Gazeta and the Russian service of the BBC.

Dubkov was taken to the police station in Shcherbinka in Moscow, writes Novaya Gazeta on Telegram.

The defense attorney for Alexei Navalny's mother is accused of "disorderly conduct."

There is currently no official confirmation of this information.

Last week, the lawyer Vasily Dubkov accompanied the mother Ludmilla Navalnaya to the “Polarwolf” prison camp, where Navalny died unexpectedly ten days ago.

He ultimately helped secure the release of Navalny's body.

The death certificate mentions “natural” causes

According to authorities, Navalny died in a prison camp in the Siberian Arctic region of Yamal.

The circumstances of his death are not clear.

The politician, weakened by the poison attack in 2020 and repeated solitary confinement in the camp, is said to have collapsed during a tour of the icy prison yard and died despite attempts to resuscitate him.

According to Navalny's team, the death certificate mentions "natural" causes.

The politician was 47 years old at the time of death.

Meanwhile, according to his team, the Russian authorities are also hindering the organization of a memorial service for the Kremlin critic.

"After a day of searching, we still haven't found a mourning room," wrote Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysch on the X platform (formerly Twitter).

Some funeral homes said they were fully booked, others declined as soon as Navalny's name was mentioned.

"At one point we were told that the funeral homes had been banned from working with us."

After Navalny's body was handed over to relatives over the weekend, the team announced on Monday that it wanted to organize a public memorial service.

The obstacles that now arise are not unexpected.

The authorities have already cracked down on expressions of condolence for President Vladimir Putin's harshest critic.

Hundreds of people were arrested in Russia while laying flowers for Navalny.

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