Alexey Navalny’s physique was returned to his mom days after relations mentioned they have been denied entry to his physique and have been pressured by Russian authorities to carry a funeral in secret.
“Alexey’s body was handed over to his mother. Many thanks to all those who demanded this with us,” Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s spokesperson, wrote on X, every week after the political dissident died all of a sudden in an Artic penal colony on the age of 47.
“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 will inform you as soon as there is news,” she wrote.
Questions stay across the nature of Navalny’s dying and whether or not a public procession will be held for one in every of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critics.
Navalny’s spokesperson, Yarmysh, mentioned on X that the household was proven a medical report stating that Navalny died of pure causes.
His mom, Lyudmila Navalnaya, mentioned in a YouTube video posted earlier this week that she was initially denied entry to see her son’s physique and accused Russian authorities of blackmailing her except she agreed to situations outlining when and methods to bury her son.
Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, additionally accused Putin of “torturing” his corpse, difficult the Russian chief’s proclaimed Christian religion in a six-minute video posted on her late husband’s YouTube channel.
“We already knew Putin’s faith was fake,” she says within the video, “But now we see it more clearly than ever before.”
A public funeral for a fierce Kremlin opponent might be disruptive and unfavorable for Putin.
After Navalny’s dying was introduced, members of the general public laid floral tributes in cities throughout Russia. But movies on Russian social media confirmed teams of unidentified individuals eradicating the tributes in a single day as authorities watched, CBS News reported.
Russian watchdog group OVD-Info mentioned on February 17 that greater than 400 individuals have been detained after leaving tributes to Navalny.
Yarmysh mentioned on Friday that Navalny’s mom was given an ultimatum to carry a secret funeral or he can be buried on the jail colony.
The spokesperson’s newest replace on the return of Navalny’s physique didn’t specify if the household agreed to any situations.
“We just want a funeral service and to bury him in a human way, in the ground, as is customary in Orthodoxy,” Navalny’s spouse mentioned.