A lawyer who represented the late opposition politician Alexei Navalny was arrested on Tuesday in Moscow, Russian news media said.
The detention of Vasily Dubkov was due to “violating public order” as reported by newspaper Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia’s last independent news outlets.
Mr Navalny, 47, a fierce critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin, died unexpectedly while imprisoned at an Arctic penal colony on 16 February.
After his death Mr Dubkov accompanied Mr Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, to the remote area of Russia to collect her son’s body after it was held by authorities for more than a week.
Russian authorities have not yet confirmed Mr Dubkov’s arrest.
The death of the firebrand politician prompted hundreds of Russians across the country to stream to impromptu memorials with flowers and candles.
Authorities have detained scores of people as they seek to suppress any major outpouring of sympathy for Mr Putin’s fiercest foe before the presidential election he is almost certain to win.
<p>Lyudmila Navalnaya, the mother of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, is accompanied into a car as she leaves the IK-3 penal colony, where her son served his jail term and where he died</p>
Lyudmila Navalnaya, the mother of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, is accompanied into a car as she leaves the IK-3 penal colony, where her son served his jail term and where he died (REUTERS)
Mr Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, has accused Mr Putin of killing her husband, and was critical of authorities keeping the body for such a length of time.
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