Over 400 arrested in Russia during campaigning for Navajo

Over 400 people have been arrested in Russia as they pay their respects to opposition leader Alexei Navajo, who died in a Arctic prison, reported a human rights group.

The sudden death of Navalny, 47, was a powerful blow to many Russians who had looked to the future as Russian President Vladimir Putin's greatest rival. Navalny had been loud in his criticism of the Kremlin, even after he had escaped a nervous agent poisoning and had been sentenced to several years in prison.

News of his death caused worldwide outrage, and hundreds of people in dozens of Russian cities established ad-hoc memorials and monuments for victims of political oppression were filled with flowers and candles in honor of the Navajo. In dozens of cities, police arrested 401 people by Saturday evening, the OVD-Info human rights group said. This group collects information on political arrests and offers legal assistance to those arrested.

Over 200 people were arrested in St Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, the group said. Among those arrested is Grigory Mikhnov-Voitenko, priest of the Apostolic Orthodox Church, who is a religious group independent of the Russian Orthodox Church. He had announced through social networks that he planned to hold services in memory of Navajo. The authorities arrested the priest on Saturday morning outside his home. He's being accused of organising the gatherings and sent to prison, but then he was hospital because he had an attack, according to OVD-Info.

Courts in St Petersburg have ordered that 42 of those arrested Friday be sentenced to six days in prison, and nine others were fined. In Moscow, at least six people were sentenced to 15 days in prison, according to OVD-Info. One person was imprisoned in the southern town of Krasnodar, while two others in the town of Brjansk, the group said.

News of Navalny's death came a month before Russia holds presidential elections, which is widely believed to give Putin another six-year term. Questions about the cause of death have also been raised Sunday, while it remains unclear when authorities will hand over his body to the family.

A day earlier, the Navajo team said politician “killed” and accused authorities of deliberately delaying the process of handing over his body. Navajo's mother and lawyers have accepted counterproliferation information from some institutions where they went to demand that the corpse of the Kremlin critic be handed over.

“They are walking us in a circle and hiding their traces”, said Navalnyt spokeswoman Kira Jarmish.