Cabo Verde: Urgent climate adaptation needed or GDP will shrink - World Bank
Lula urges against ‘speculation’ on Navalny death
8:07 CAT | 18 Feb 2024
This handout picture released by the Brazilian Presidency shows Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (L) attending the opening ceremony of the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa on February 17, 2024. (Photo by Ricardo Stuckert/ Brazilian Presidency / AFP]
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva cautioned Sunday against rushing to conclusions on how Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny died, in a break with Western leaders who have been quick to blame the Kremlin.
In some of the first comments on Navalny’s death from a fellow member of the BRICS group of emerging nations, Lula said it was important to avoid “speculation” and await the results of an autopsy.
“I think it’s a matter of good sense… If the death was suspicious, we have to first investigate to find out what the citizen died of,” Lula told reporters in Addis Ababa, where he was attending an African Union summit.
“The medical examiners are going to say the guy died of this or that. Then you can judge. Otherwise, if you judge now and say I-don’t-know-who ordered the killing and it wasn’t them, afterward you have to apologise. Why the rush to accuse?”
Lula has faced criticism in the West as overly soft on Russian President Vladimir Putin, his fellow leader in the BRICS group — which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa but was recently expanded to include several other emerging powers.
Lula, 78, has been critical of the US and European responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and said Kyiv shares the blame for the conflict and refused to join Western sanctions on Moscow.
Navalny, Putin’s leading critic, died Friday in a remote Siberian prison after more than three years behind bars. He was 47.
Lula said Navalny could have been sick or had a health problem, and warned against “trivialising” accusations of murder.
“I don’t want speculation,” he said. “I understand the interests of those who immediately accuse, (saying) ‘It was so-and-so.’ But that’s not my motto. I’d rather wait… for the exam.”
Navalny’s supporters on Saturday accused Russian authorities of being “killers” who were “covering their tracks” by refusing to hand over his body.
Source: AFP
Show comments
Also read
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.