Details of the funeral and how many mourners will be allowed to attend remain unclear.
Moscow, Russia:
The funeral of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is scheduled to take place in Moscow on Friday, with mourners risking arrest to pay their respects.
The ceremony will take place two weeks after Navalny’s death in an Arctic prison, amid pressure from his team to accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of murdering his top critic.
Putin famously never mentioned Navalny’s name in public, and he has not commented on Navalny’s death, sparking outrage from Western leaders and the Russian opposition.
A religious service will be held at 2:00 pm (1100 GMT) at the Church of the Mother of God’s Elimination of My Sorrows in Marino, a suburb of Moscow.
In accordance with Orthodox Christian practice, the body of Navalny, who converted to Christianity, will be displayed in an open casket.
In two hours, the funeral will be held at Borisovo Cemetery, just a few steps from the banks of the Moskva River.
Details of the funeral and how many mourners will be allowed to attend remain unclear.
The authorities have not yet commented on how they will handle the incident, which could turn into an embarrassing show of support for Navalny.
About a dozen police officers patrolled the cemetery on the eve of the funeral, which supporters feared could be Kremlin interference.
I hope the ceremony can be held peacefully
They have reason to worry: 400 mourners have been detained at Navalny’s memorial since his death, according to human rights group OVD-Info.
The dissident’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, worried that further arrests could disrupt the funeral.
“I am not yet sure if things will be peaceful or if the police will arrest people who come to say goodbye to my husband,” Navalnaya told the European Parliament.
She blamed Putin directly for his death.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticized comments by Navalny’s wife and Western leaders, blaming “vulgarity” for the Russian leader’s death.
Navalny rose to prominence through his anti-corruption campaign, exposing what he said was rampant corruption at the top of Putin’s government.
He was arrested in January 2021 after returning to Russia after receiving treatment in Germany for a poisoning attack.
“Alexei suffered three years of torture,” Navalnaya told lawmakers in Brussels.
“He starved in a small stone cell, cut off from the outside world and refused visits, phone calls and even letters.”
“Then they killed him. Even after that, they abused his body,” she said.
“A chance to say goodbye”
His body was held for eight days in what his team believed was an attempt to cover up responsibility for his death.
Navalny’s family and his team have also accused authorities of trying to prevent him from having a dignified public funeral, fearing it could become a flashpoint for dissent.
The team said local investigators threatened to bury him in prison if his mother did not agree to a “secret” burial.
After the bodies were released, allies worked to find a burial site that agreed to hold ceremonies.
On Thursday, they said the hearse driver refused to remove the body from the morgue.
“What a shame. Now the hearse driver refuses to take Alexei from the morgue,” said Ivan Zhdanov, an exiled ally who runs Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation.
Navalny’s spokesman Kira Yarmysh said funeral directors had received threatening calls from “unknown persons” warning them not to transport Navalny’s body anywhere.
Civil ceremonies that allow the public to pay their respects to the body – common in Russia – are also banned.
Navalnaya said the family “didn’t want special treatment – just to give people a chance to say goodbye.”
She vowed to continue his life’s work.
“The most important thing we can do for Alexei and ourselves is to continue fighting harder and harder than before,” she said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
