German Chancellor Angela Merkel calls for open investigation into Navalny’s poisoning

In a joint statement, Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, have called on the Russian authorities to conduct an open investigation into the poisoning of Russian opposition leader, Alexey Navalny.

Merkel and Maas noted that German doctors at the Charité Hospital in Berlin have confirmed that there is clinical evidence pointing to the fact that Navalny was poisoned.

“Taking into account Mr. Navalny’s prominent role in the political opposition in Russia, the authorities must investigate this crime to the last detail — and with full transparency. Those responsible need to be identified and punished,” the statement says.

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel was among the first to offer assistance to Alexey Navalny’s family after the Russian opposition leader was hospitalized on August 20. After Navalny was taken to Berlin for treatment, his associate Leonid Volkov thanked the German government and Merkel personally, for “providing international support [and] for helping resolve a huge number of bureaucratic and security issues.”
• Navalny has been in a coma since August 20 after becoming violently ill aboard a flight from Tomsk to Moscow. Navalny’s plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, where local doctors treated him for two days, initially refusing to issue the paperwork needed to transfer him to Berlin, arguing that Navalny’s condition was too unstable. Family and coworkers say this delay was deliberate, so the alleged toxins in Navalny’s body could disintegrate, making it impossible to identify the substance apparently used to poison him.