The family of Alexei Navalny has not been able to claim the body of the 47-year-old Putin adversary, who died in prisons in the Arctic Circle.

His spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, said his mother, Ludmila, had been told that the body would only be released when the post-mortem examination was completed.

Navalny’s team believes the Russian opposition leader was assassinated on the orders of President Vladimir Putin.

Western governments blame Russian authorities for the 47-year-old’s sudden death, while G7 foreign ministers called on Moscow to “immediately clarify” the circumstances of his death.

Putin has not spoken publicly since the Russian prison service announced that Navalny died at the remote IK-3 prison in the Arctic Circle.

Soon after, the Kremlin said it was aware and that the president had been briefed.

Hundreds of arrests in Russia

More than 400 people have been arrested in 32 Russian cities at events held in memory of Alexei Navalny, according to human rights group OVD-Info.

It is the biggest wave of arrests in political protests in Russia since September 2022, when more than 1,300 people were arrested in protests against Moscow’s “partial conscription” for its invasion of Ukraine.

OVD-Info reported that the largest number of arrests were made in St. Petersburg and Moscow, where the pro-Navalni movement has traditionally been strong.

Footage from Reuters in St Petersburg showed dozens gathering next to a memorial to victims of repression. Some laid flowers and left candles, while some sang hymns and others hugged each other, in tears. A Reuters reporter at the scene said about 30 people were arrested.

OVD-Info also reported isolated arrests in smaller cities across Russia, from the border city of Belgorod, where seven were killed in a Ukrainian missile strike on Thursday, to Vorkuta, in the Arctic once home to a Stalin-era Gulag labor camp.

Reuters was unable to verify the group’s accounts, and Russian police declined to comment.