Russian authorities have cracked down on public gatherings honoring Navalny. (document)
Strasbourg, France:
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, said on Wednesday she was concerned about disruption and arrests at her husband’s funeral scheduled for Friday in Moscow.
Navalnaya received a long round of applause in a powerful speech in the European Parliament in which she attacked Russian leader Vladimir Putin as a “thug” responsible for her husband’s death.
“I am not yet sure if it will be peaceful or if the police will arrest those who come to say goodbye to my husband,” Navalnaya told lawmakers shortly after announcing that the funeral was scheduled to be held on Friday at a Moscow church. .”
“Putin is the leader of an organized crime gang,” Navalnaya said. “You are not dealing with a politician, you are dealing with a bloody gangster.”
Russian authorities said Navalny lost consciousness and died of natural causes after a walk in an Arctic prison colony.
His family rejected this claim.
“Alexei suffered three years of torture,” Navalnaya told lawmakers. “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.
Navalny’s body was withheld for eight days in what his team believes was an effort to cover up those responsible for his death and prevent a public burial.
“Putin must be held accountable for what he did to Alexei,” Navalnaya said.
Russian authorities have cracked down on public gatherings honoring Navalny, detaining hundreds of people who laid flowers at the monument.
The opposition leader rose to prominence through his anti-corruption campaign, exposing what he said was rampant corruption at the top of Putin’s government.
He was poisoned while campaigning against Putin in Siberia a few months ago and was arrested on his return to Russia in January 2021 after receiving treatment in Germany.
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