GENEVA - The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, Mariana Katzarova, today condemned the continued impunity surrounding Alexei Navalny's death in State custody two years ago in Russia, amid new findings alleging that he was poisoned. She issued the following statement:
"New findings released on 14 February by the Governments of the United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands provide authoritative confirmation that Alexei Navalny was poisoned.
In 2024 and 2025, together with fellow UN Special Rapporteurs, I had already raised alarm over Navalny's death being neither natural nor unexplained. For the past two years, Russian authorities have failed to conduct a credible investigation into Navalny's death in custody. Now, the findings released by the five European Governments give credible grounds to believe the worst fears: Navalny was subjected to extrajudicial killing by the Russian authorities.
No independent autopsy has taken place and those conducted by the Russian authorities have not made their conclusions public. Equally, there has been no cooperation with any independent international investigation into the circumstances of his death. This persistent refusal to account for Navalny's death, combined with the five UN Member States claiming clear scientific evidence of a lethal toxin, if confirmed, leave no doubt that Alexei Navalny was the victim of an extrajudicial killing.
Alexei Navalny, head of the Anti‑Corruption Foundation (FBK) - labelled "extremist" and later a "terrorist organisation" by the Russian Supreme Court in November 2025 - was a leading opposition figure who was arbitrarily detained in 2021 and sentenced in a series of politically motivated "extremism" cases to a cumulative 19‑year term. He died while serving this sentence in the IK‑3 "Polar Wolf" penal colony in the Yamalo‑Nenets Region, beyond the Arctic Circle. Authorities reported that on 16 February 2024 he "felt unwell after a walk, lost consciousness, and could not be resuscitated," and his death certificate listed the cause of death as natural.
Russia is obligated under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to protect the right to life, prevent torture and ill‑treatment, and ensure accountability for all deaths in custody. Russia has violated every one of these obligations.
Upon release of the five governments' findings, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, as quoted by the Russian News Agency TASS, dismissed them as "an information provocation aimed at distracting from the West's own pressing problems.
After two years of silence, denial and obstruction, only an independent international probe can bring truth, justice and accountability. Russia has shown no willingness to conduct a credible investigation. I call again on the Russian Government to allow and cooperate with an independent international investigation.
Navalny's death reflects a widespread and systematic strategy of repression within Russia. More than 2,000 political prisoners, including human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers and anti‑war activists remain at grave risk unless they are immediately released. Deaths in custody continue, and many detainees face life‑threatening conditions, medical neglect, torture, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and politically motivated prosecutions.
On Monday, hundreds of people across Russia paid tribute to Alexei Navalny and at least 14 were detained during memorial events. Any public support for Navalny or FBK is subject to criminal prosecution for participation in "extremist" or "terrorist organisation". Unsurprisingly, the security services made a video recording of all visitors to pay tribute at Navalny's gravesite in Moscow.
Justice for Alexei Navalny must extend to all those facing persecution in Russia. I urge Russian authorities to release all individuals arbitrarily detained for exercising their fundamental freedoms and to end the cycle of repression that continues to cost lives."
