The 47-year-old opposition politician died in a penal colony in the Arctic Ural Mountains in February, where he was serving a multi-year sentence. Russian authorities have claimed that he died of natural causes.
But documents that The Insider has obtained show two versions of a document signed by the same Russian investigator, which concerns the decision not to investigate the crime in connection with Navalny's death.
In one version of the document, it is described how Navalny suffered from severe abdominal pain, vomiting, convulsions, and lost consciousness before he died. In the final version, these descriptions have been removed.
The official cause of death – disrupted heart rhythm – could in no way explain the symptoms described in the statement. ... These symptoms can hardly be explained by anything other than poisoning, says emergency doctor Alexander Polupan, who treated Navalny when he was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in 2020, to the newspaper.
Other doctors who The Insider has spoken to agree with the assessment.