The mother and lawyer of deceased Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who have travelled to the penal colony in northern Russia were he was held, say his body is “not in the morgue,” according to Navalny’s spokeswoman.

“[Alexei’s] lawyer and his mother have arrived at the Salekhard morgue,” Kira Yarmysh wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday, after earlier having confirmed the Kremlin critic’s death.

“It’s closed, however, the colony has assured them it’s working and Navalny’s body is there. The lawyer called the phone number which was on the door. He was told he was the seventh caller today. [Alexei’s] body is not in the morgue.”

In a follow-up post, Yarmysh said that “another of Navalny’s lawyers, who went to Salekhard’s Investigative Committee, was told that ‘the cause of [Alexei’s] death has not yet been established, a new histological examination has been carried out.’ The results will supposedly be available next week. It’s obvious that they are lying and doing everything they can to avoid handing over the body.”

According to Navalny’s team, his mother Lyudmila Navalnaya travelled to the penal colony in the northern Russian region of Yamal where she was given official notification of her son’s death, putting the time of death at 2:17 pm (0917 GMT) on Friday.

Russian state media on Friday reported that Navalny, who had been imprisoned since 2021, had died at the age of 47 under unclear circumstances.