Russia: Court orders arrest of late opposition leader's wife in absentia

Moscow [Russia], July 10 (ANI): A court in Moscow has ordered the arrest of the wife of late opposition politician Alexey Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, in absentia, her spokesperson announced on Tuesday, CNN reported.
The Basmanny District Court in Moscow accused Navalnaya of "participation in an extremist organization," her spokesperson Kira Yarmysh announced in a post on social media. Yulia Navalnaya's name has also been included in an international wanted list, CNN reported, citing Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
Additionally, the court granted a request by the Investigative Committee of Russia to detain Navalnaya. According to a press release, the period of detention would be calculated from the moment of possible extradition to Russian territory or from her detention on Russian territory. It is pertinent to note here that Navalnaya does not reside in Russia.
On February 16, Alexey Navalny died in the penal colony in Siberia, where he was serving a 19-year sentence after being found guilty of causing an extremist community, financing extremist activists and various other crimes in August, according to CNN report.
He was already serving sentences of 11-and-a-half years in a maximum security facility on fraud and other charges. He had denied the allegations and called it politically motivated.
Navalny was Russia's high-profile opposition leader and spent years criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin. His death came weeks before Russia's presidential elections that were scheduled to begin on March 15.
Earlier in February, Yulia Navalnaya had accused Putin of being responsible for her husband's death and hinted that she would pick up her husband's mantle, for a "happy, beautiful Russia," CNN reported.
In March, a Russian court rejected a lawsuit by late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny's mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, alleging that the Kremlin critic had received "inadequate medical care" in the Arctic penal colony where he died, Al Jazeera reported.
Ivan Zhdanov, head of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, which was started by Navalny, said on the court in the town of Labytnangi turned down the lawsuit because it said only Nalvany could make the complaint himself.
"Alexei filed lawsuits many times for failure to provide medical care in the colonies," Zhdanov wrote on the Telegram app. "Now that he has been killed, they deny his family's claim with mocking language."
Navalny's family and supporters have accused the Russian President of being responsible for his death, an accusation rejected by the Kremlin, Al Jazeera reported.
Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, said that the court had rejected the lawsuit because it would have meant disclosing video and other information about the circumstances of his death.
Russian prison authorities claimed that the Kremlin critic had fallen unconscious and died on February 16 after a walk outside the "Polar Wolf" prison where he was serving a three-decade sentence. His death certificate stated that he had died of 'natural causes'.
Lyudmila travelled to the Arctic city of Salekhard, 2,000 km from Moscow, shortly after the former opposition leader's death, where she said investigators refused to release his body from a local morgue until she agreed to bury him without a public funeral, as reported by Al Jazeera.
Thousands lined the church perimeter for his short funeral ceremony in Moscow, then went to the cemetery to lay flowers, defying the Kremlin's warnings against large gatherings. (ANI)