The body of the Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, who died suddenly in prison last week, has been handed over to his mother, Liudmila Navalnaya, according to the opposition's spokesperson, Kira Yarmish, who wrote on the social network X on Saturday. Navalny's mother accuses the Kremlin of trying to impose a secret funeral on her, threatening to let her body decompose if she refused.
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“Alexei's body has been handed over to his mother,” Kira Yarmish wrote on X (formerly Twitter), the opposition leader's spokesperson, in a message in which she thanked all those who had been urging the Russian authorities to do it.
He added that he did not know if “the authorities will prevent (the funeral) from being celebrated as the family wishes and as Alexei deserves,” he said, while in the morning Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the opposition leader, who has promised to continue the fight of Her husband from abroad had accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of preventing the delivery of the body to the family.
Kira Yarmish declared that Liudmila Navalnaya, the mother of the opposition leader, was in Salekhard, the capital of the Yamalo-Nenets district, the Arctic region where her son died, in one of the harshest prisons in Russia.
Alexey's body was handed over to his mother. Many thanks to all those who demanded this with us.
Lyudmila Ivanovna is still in Salekhard. The funeral is still pending. We do not know if the authorities will interfere to carry it out as the family wants and as Alexey deserves. We…
— Кира Ярмыш (@Kira_Yarmysh) February 24, 2024
Navalny's supporters, as well as many Western leaders, have accused Vladimir Putin of being responsible for his death, with some even suggesting he was murdered.
Liudmila Navalnaya had been trying to recover her son's body for more than a week. She had accused the authorities of blackmailing her, threatening to let her body decompose if she did not agree to a secret funeral or to have it buried in the penal colony where she was serving a cumulative 30-year prison sentence for “extremism” and other charges.
If the funeral were public, it could mobilize many of his supporters and be embarrassing for Vladimir Putin's regime, which is preparing for a new coronation in the presidential elections scheduled for March 15-17.
In the 2010s, before the repressive machinery fell on him, Navalny managed to mobilize crowds, especially in Moscow, earning himself the status of Vladimir Putin's main opponent.
Since then, there has been the invasion of Ukraine, which has led to a ruthless repression that has decimated the opposition.
“A murder”
The circumstances of Alexei Navalny's death, which caused strong emotion around the world, remain unclear. According to the Russian penitentiary services, he died as a result of a sudden illness “after a walk.”
Navalny's team claims that the death certificate refers to a “natural cause”, an official version which it rejects, and calls on the police, army and security services to provide them with any information about Navalny's “murder”.
In exchange, “we promise a reward of 20,000 euros and the organization of their departure from the country, if they wish.”
Several Western countries, outraged by the death of Alexei Navalny, have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being responsible.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused President Putin of murder on Saturday. “Putin claims to be powerful, but truly powerful leaders do not assassinate his opponents,” he said in kyiv during a news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to mark the second anniversary of the Russian invasion.
The master of the Kremlin did not react to the death of his main detractor, who miraculously survived in 2020 a poisoning incident of which he had already accused Vladimir Putin, despite the fact that he denied it.
The multiple lawsuits filed against the opponent were widely denounced as a form of political persecution against him.
Adapted from its French original
With AFP
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