Putin foe Alexei Navalny was tortured to death by being tied up so tight blood to his brain was cut off, claim insiders

INSIDERS claim Putin’s greatest rival Alexei Navalny was tortured to death by being tied up so tightly it cut off blood to his brain inside his Arctic hellhole jail.

A new report alleges that the original autopsy results revealed the jailed opposition leader, 47, had blood clots in the arms and muscles – before Kremlin agents covered it up.

Reuters

The report suggests Alexei Navalny could have been starved of blood in the hours before his death[/caption]

Getty

Russia is yet to release an official cause of death for Putin’s arch enemy[/caption]

AP

Western leaders and Russian opposition leaders accused Vladimir Putin of ordering his murder[/caption]

Insider sources told Russian human rights organisation gulagu.net that a forensic expert who examined the bruised corpse of Navalny was forced to hide his findings by Putin’s secret service.

Initial Russian reports claimed Navalny died on February 16 of a “detached blood clot” in the hellhole Siberian gulag where he had been jailed in a brutal act of political repression.

The Kremlin foe was serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges in the sadistic Polar Wolf colony- charges he always denied.

However, gulagu.net – which is headed by Russian dissident Vladimir Osechkin – claimed: “The forensic expert was pressured to conceal the discovery of blood clots….in the calf muscles and arms”.

This indicated “the formation of blood clots as a result of disruption of normal blood circulation”.

A source told the organisation that the forensic physician concluded “that four to five hours before the onset of biological death, the prisoner was tied up and his arms and legs”.

His limbs “were tightly tied just so that the blood stagnated and blood clots formed in it, which then clogged the pulmonary artery and blood vessels of the brain”, said a statement from the organisation.

No proof was offered for the allegation of torture – but Western leaders and Russian opposition figures have accused Vladimir Putin of ordering Navalny’s murder.

The forensic expert and the Investigative Committee investigators “are under intense pressure from the FSB [security service] in order to obstruct the investigation,” the report added.

They have been told to “conceal the circumstances of the commission of a particularly serious crime against Alexei Navalny – torture and contract killing”.

It is known that the Russian authorities have extended the deadline for a preliminary probe into the still unexplained death of the imprisoned Russian opposition leader.

The new date is April 20, according to Ivan Zhdanov, director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.

This means “there is still no official information from the government about the cause of death”, Zhdanov said.

Russia’s penitentiary authorities initially said the politician “felt unwell” and fainted after a walk in the prison yard.

The official narrative is that he died of “sudden death syndrome” – a vague term for different cardiac symptoms that lead to cardiac arrest and death.

East2West

Exiled Russian Vladimir Osechkin runs rights organisation gulag.net[/caption]

The organisation’s new report suggests Navalny was tortured before his death

AFP

Navalny staged huge anti-Kremlin protests, frequently was imprisoned and claims to have survived multiple assassination attempts before his death[/caption]

However, no specific cause of death has been revealed yet.

Navalny’s mother was shown a medical certificate stating that her son died of “natural causes”.

His body was only returned to Lyudmila after eight painful days – which sparked allegations Russia intended to cover up his cause of death.

Inside Polar Wolf, Navalny ended his days in an icy “purgatory” where temperatures nudge -30C, the winter sun never rises and inmates are ordered outside for morning roll call wearing just flimsy clothes.

Navalny’s widow Navalnaya had blasted the Russian tyrant stating: “Give us the body of my husband. You tortured him alive, and now you keep torturing him dead. You mock the remains of the dead.”

Gulag.net previously claimed that evidence suggested Navalny was killed by a “single punch to the heart” after being forced to spend hours in freezing cold.

The barbaric method was once a “hallmark of the KGB”.

Maria Pevchikh – an exiled ally of Navalny – said Navalny was poised to be freed in a prisoner swap – but Putin blocked it at the last minute and had his arch foe killed.

Ina shameless election speech last month, Putin appeared to back the theory that Navalny might have been exchanged but said: “Unfortunately, whatever happened, happened”.

Gulag.net is run by Vladimir Osechkin, who lives in exile in France after fleeing Russia following assassination attempts as he tried to expose the Kremlin’s human rights abuses.

In March, he said he narrowly avoided by assassinated and was moved out of his home after by France cops who were tipped off that a Kremlin execution squad was on their way.

AFP

Navalny appeared on video link from Polar Wolf at a hearing last June[/caption]

Navalny’s efiant mum Lyudmila travelled to his remote jail to demand the release of her son’s body