Friday. 29.03.2024

Russian dissident Alexei Navalny demanded on Monday that authorities return his clothes, which were taken from him as he was hospitalized in the Russian city of Omsk last month.

German, French and Swedish laboratory tests have concluded that Navalny was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok. He fell ill on August 20 while on a domestic flight from the Russian city of Tomsk and the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk.

Russian authorities have said that a domestic inquiry into the matter has turned up no hard evidence of such a poisoning. Russia has refused to conduct a full-fledged investigation.

"Exactly a month has passed since they tried to kill me with a chemical weapon," Navalny said in a statement on his website. "The 30 days allotted by law for the inquiry have expired."

Accusing Russian authorities of having taken his clothing to cover up the poisoning, Navany said: "I demand that my clothes be carefully packed in a plastic bag and returned to me."

Three weeks in a coma

"The 30 days of the 'pre-investigation inquiry' were used to hide this important evidence," he said.

Two days after Navalny was hospitalized, he was medically evacuated on a German-operated flight to Berlin, where he has been treated at the renowned Charite hospital.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Алексей Навальный (@navalny) on

Navalny, who spent three weeks in a coma following the poisoning, posted a photo on his Instagram account on Monday, showing him sitting up in a chair on a balcony at the Charite next to his wife, Yulia.

"Yulia and I had our 20th wedding anniversary on August 26," he wrote. "I'm even glad that I missed it as I can write today that I know a little more about love than a month ago."

Navalny demands Russia return his clothes from day of poisoning