Alexey Navalny is a staunch critic of Vladimir Putin (file photo)
Moscow:
Russia’s late opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s body has been handed over to his mother, his spokesman said on Saturday, more than a week after he died at an Arctic prison colony.
Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken critic, died on February 16 in one of Russia’s toughest prisons in northern Siberia, where he was serving a 19-year sentence on charges widely seen as targeting his opposition. Political revenge.
Navalny spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said on X (formerly Twitter): “Alexei’s body has been handed over to his mother. Many thanks to everyone who has reached out to us. “
Alexei’s body was handed over to his mother. A big thank you to everyone who has requested this from us.
Lyudmila Ivanovna is still in Salekhard. Funeral arrangements are still pending. We don’t know if the authorities will intervene in the way the family wants and Alexei deserves. us…
— Kira Yarmysh (@Kira_Yarmysh) February 24, 2024
Over the past week, Lyudmila Navalnaya traveled to the town of Salekhard in the Yamal-Nenets region, the closest settlement to the prison colony where Navalny died, before Russian authorities refused to Her son’s body was given to her for safekeeping.
Navalny’s team said on Friday it had filed a lawsuit to obtain the body, saying local investigators threatened to bury him in prison if his mother did not agree to a “secret” burial.
Yarmish said plans for the funeral remain unclear.
“Lyudmila Ivanovna is still in Salekhard. The funeral is still pending. We don’t know if the authorities will intervene in the way the family wishes and Alexei deserves,” she said .
His team has previously said the Kremlin’s attempts to prevent a public funeral could turn into a show of support for Navalny’s movement and opposition to Putin.
The Russian leader famously never mentioned Navalny’s name in public or commented on the death of his most vocal critic.
His spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticized Navalny’s wife and Western leaders for “vulgar” comments blaming Putin’s death.
“Satanism”
Russian authorities said Navalny fell unconscious and died of “natural causes” after taking a walk in a prison nicknamed “Polar Wolf”.
But his team said investigators held his body withholding it from his mother for days, sparking accusations against the government that they were “killers” trying to “cover their tracks.”
Tens of thousands of Russians have signed a petition calling for the release of Navalny’s body, while dozens of prominent Russian cultural figures have posted video messages urging it to be done.
Earlier on Saturday, Yulia Navalnaya accused Putin of “Satan worship” by not allowing the return of her husband’s body.
“You tortured him while he was alive, and now you torture him after his death,” Yulia Navalnaya, who vowed to continue her husband’s work, said in a video released on Saturday.
“What Putin is doing now is hatred. No, it’s not even hatred, it’s some kind of Satanism,” she added.
His death after three years in a Russian prison sparked an uproar among the country’s opposition and Western leaders.
On Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined those blaming the Kremlin, appearing to suggest the Russian leader was behind Navalny’s death.
“Putin pretends to be strong, but a truly strong leader does not assassinate his opponents,” Trudeau said at a news conference in Kiev to mark the second anniversary of the Russian invasion.
Last week, Russian police arrested hundreds of mourners at a makeshift memorial to Navalny.
The opposition leader rose to prominence through his anti-corruption campaign, and his glossy YouTube videos exposing the ill-gotten gains of Putin and his entourage have been viewed millions of times.
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.
In prison, he continued his anti-corruption campaign within Russia but was forced to watch as Putin invaded Ukraine, dismantled his organization, imprisoned his allies and forced others into exile.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
