Alexei Navalny's body has been FOUND showing signs of bruising caused by being held down while he was in convulsions.

According to a new report, Alexei Navalny's body shows signs of bruises.

The wounds are consistent with the Russian opposition leader – who died on Friday aged 47 amid claims he was 'murdered' by Vladimir Putin's regime – suffering an 'attack', according to independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europe.

The news channel spoke to a paramedic from the Salekhard ambulance service, close to the IK-3 penal colony, also known as 'Polar Wolf', where 47-year-old Navalny was held before reports of his death emerged on Friday.

Paramedics found bruises on Navalny's body, which is now under police guard at a mortuary in the Clinical Hospital of Salekhard District, the independent news outlet said.

“Usually the bodies of people who die in prison are taken directly to the Office of Forensic Medicine on Glazkova Street, but in this case for some reason they were taken to the clinical hospital,” the anonymous paramedic told the outlet .

'As an experienced paramedic I can say that the injuries described by those who saw them appeared to be the result of convulsions.

Vladimir Putin (pictured) is accused of arranging his assassination

A view of the entrance to the IK-3 prison colony in the city of Kharp, Yamalo-Nenetsk region, about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 mi) northeast of Moscow, Russia

'If a person has convulsions and others try to hold him down, but the convulsions are very violent, bruises appear. They also said he had a bruise on his chest, the kind that results from indirect chest compressions.

“So they tried to resuscitate him, and he probably died of cardiac arrest,” the paramedic said, adding, “But no one is saying anything about why he went into cardiac arrest.”

According to the newspaper, no autopsy has yet been performed.

Previously, Navalny's mother was wrongly told that the politician's body was in the main mortuary in Salekhard.

Now the family has been told that the cause of death has not yet been determined and his body cannot yet be handed over to relatives for burial.

Details about Navalny's death are scarce and the data made public are contradictory.

Details about Navalny's death are scarce and the data made public are contradictory.

Police officers detain a woman during a rally in memory of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at the Wall of Grief monument

Navalny's allies say they were denied the chance to see the body, which would remain with authorities until the investigation was completed.

Russian police officers stand near the flowers at the Wall of Grief monument, laid in memory of Alexei Navalny

Just two minutes after the time Navalny was said to have died – 2:17 p.m. – Russia's prison service released a statement revealing his death.

Four minutes later, a Kremlin-controlled Telegram channel claimed he had died of a blood clot, and just seven minutes later Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke to the media about it.

In addition, Kremlin officials reportedly told the opposition leader's mother that he died of “sudden death syndrome” when she visited the brutal IK-3 Polar Wolf penal colony where he was held yesterday.

Navalny's allies say they were denied the chance to see the body, which would remain with authorities until the investigation was completed.

Navalny's lawyer, who arrived in the city of Salekhard on Saturday with Navalny's mother, was told by the prison that the body was being held in the morgue.

But a contact at Salekhard's mortuary later denied the body was there, raising further questions about the shocking death of one of Putin's fiercest critics.

“It is clear that the killers want to cover their tracks and therefore do not hand over Alexei's body, even for his mother,” his team said in a message on Telegram.

More to follow.