Yulia Navalnaya asks for help from the European Parliament – DW – 02/28/2024

Julia Navalnaya was given a standing ovation by the European Parliament in Strasbourg, a city she said she had visited in the past with her husband and children. In a speech that was at times very personal and in which she appeared to be struggling to regain her composure, she said that in the twelve days following the death of her husband, Alexei Navalny, she had spent a week trying to recover his body. Had spent. Russian rivals and funeral arrangements.

According to official Russian information, Alexei Navalny died of “natural causes” in a Siberian prison camp at approximately 2:00 pm local time on February 16. Navalny supporters and Western politicians blame Russian President Vladimir Putin for the death of the most prominent opposition leader. After her husband’s death, Yulia Navalnaya announced that she wanted to continue her work with the fight against corruption.

In Strasbourg, Navalnaya said the funeral in Moscow would take place this Friday and that she was not sure “whether it will be a peaceful funeral or whether the police will arrest people who are going to say goodbye to my husband.”

Immediately after the rival’s death was announced, several people were arrested for publicly honoring Navalny. It is still unknown how many people will attend the funeral and how the Russian state will react.

Navalnaya: “They should be simple”

According to Navalnaya, her husband’s murder shows that Putin is capable of doing anything and cannot be negotiated with. She sees how surprised people are. Many people feel that Putin cannot be defeated. “And in that desperation now they ask me: How can we help you?” They said.

And she responded to EU lawmakers by describing her late husband as a genius with new ideas, especially when it came to politics. Despite Russian state repression, he always found new ways to make himself heard: “If they really want to defeat Putin, they’re going to have to be inventive.” “Putin cannot be harmed by more proposals or sanctions.” In the case of the Russian president, he said, he is not a politician but a “bloody monster.”

“Putin is the head of an organized criminal gang,” Navalnya added. We must fight organized crime with all the means available to us, he said. And he told EU lawmakers to seek out Putin’s “mafia associates” in their countries, “discreet lawyers and donors who help Putin and his friends hide money.”

MPs promised support

There seems to be a consensus in Strasbourg that there will be an independent investigation into the cause of Alexei Navalny’s death. This demand was made by Parliament Speaker Roberta Metsola. Pedro Marx, vice president of the parliamentary group of Social Democrats, also wants such an investigation. “Today he addressed us and we heard him loud and clear,” he said, referring to Yulia Navalnaya’s speech.

Urmas Payet of the liberal group ReNew stressed in an interview with DW that it is important for the EU and the European Parliament to find very concrete ways to support the remaining Russian opposition and human rights activists. Many are already abroad, Payette said, but for those still in the country, the future looks bleak.

In the subsequent debate, Guy Verhofstadt of the Renew parliamentary group criticized the fact that the EU Commission had not yet presented new sanctions. He stressed that he wanted to see a “real strategy toward Russia,” not just applause for Yulia Navalnaya.

(RMR/ERS)