Navalny Died of 'Sudden Death Syndrome'
Translation: One punch to the heart after being held outside in below-zero temperatures
“One punch, Chuck!” It’s actually “two-buck, Chuck,” and that is what the Charles Shaw line of mediocre wines at Trader Joe’s is called. The prison authorities in Kara-Yarmysh, a nightmarish place located at the edge where civilization ends and hell begins, pulled an all-nighter and came up with an interesting explanation for Alexey Navalny’s death: Sudden death syndrome.
It’s an ominous name because so much is conveyed in those three little words. Time lapsed: Sudden. Cause: a Syndrome. Result: Death. Wow! This is definitely something you would never order off a menu in a restaurant.
“Yes, I will take a cup of the onion soup. And may I have some pickles with that? And, a ‘sudden death syndrome’ sandwich…medium rare, please.”
Nope. Not for me and not today — hopefully never. Poor Alexey, however, was allegedly held outside in solitary confinement for up to two and a half hours in sub-zero temperatures. Other inmates are held there for no longer than an hour because of the danger of freezing to death. Then, they say, Navalny was taken out, and on his way back to the “warmth” of his cell, he was punched in the heart.
Vladimir Osechkin, founder of the human rights group Gulagu.net, is of the opinion that Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, was killed by a single punch to the heart, a technique used by the KGB.
Speaking to The Times, Osechkin said that the bruising found on Navalny’s body was consistent with the “one-punch” technique that KGB operatives are known to specialise in. “It is an old method of the KGB’s special forces divisions. They trained their operatives to kill a man with one punch in the heart, in the centre of the body. It was a hallmark of the KGB (Did Punch Kill Navalny?).”
One punch. If this is the case, then it makes me think that the murder of Navalny wasn’t necessarily something that was planned. Some dummy guard was messing around, sadistically enjoying his control over such a high-value prisoner, and he decided to take a whack at him.
The extended period in the excessively cold weather would have constricted Navalny’s blood vessels as his body struggled to warm him up. If he had been held outside for such a long time, his blood pressure would have significantly increased. A forceful blow to the middle of the chest and the heart could have easily resulted in the “sudden death syndrome” — a well-known cause of death in prisons and dictatorships.
He further told the British publisher that he had been made aware by a source working at the penal colony of Navalny being forced to spend more than two-and-a-half hours’ outdoors in open-air solitary confinement space where temperatures could dip to minus 27 degrees Celsius. “I think that they first destroyed his body by keeping him out in the cold for a long time and slowing the blood circulation down to a minimum,” Osechkin told The Times. “And then it becomes very easy to kill someone, within seconds, if the operative has some experience in this (Did Punch Kill Navalny).”
Of course, the cause of death so far is mere speculation. The body has not yet been returned to anyone. Clearly, the delay is related to the latest brainstorming session by the prison officials — “How do we get rid of the signs that Navalny was physically abused, which caused his death?”
When Alexey’s body is returned to responsible and loving hands, I am sure drawing any conclusions will be very difficult because of the “work” being done on his corpse now by Russia’s vaunted medical experts.
The takeaway from all of this, however, is not really to worry so much about how he died. What is important is not forgetting who killed Alexey:
Vladimir Putin killed Alexey Navalny. Putin is a cowardly killer who deserves much worse than what Alexey Navalny and thousands of others are now suffering thanks to his fascist revolution.
Memory Eternal