After the death of Putin critic Alexei Navalny, Russian authorities threatened to bury him in a prison camp. Now the mother can have him buried herself.
The mother of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who died in custody, has received his body from the authorities. Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch announced this on Saturday on X (formerly Twitter). Relatives and supporters of the opposition activist had been calling on the Russian leadership for days to hand over the dead man so that he could be given a humane burial. Navalny’s team thanked prominent Russians for publicly putting pressure on him. Lyudmila Navalnaya, the mother, is still in Salekhard in northern Russia, Yarmysh said. Now the funeral should be prepared.
“We don’t know whether the authorities will let it happen the way the family wants and how Alexei deserves it,” said Yarmysch. Lyudmila Navalnaya had called for a public funeral so that not only the family but also supporters could say goodbye to the Russian opposition leader. “We will provide information on this as it comes in,” Jarmysch said. It had previously been said that Navalny’s mother wanted a burial at the Khovanskoye Cemetery, the largest of the Russian capital’s more than 100 resting places.
Pushing for the body to be returned
Only in the morning did Navalny’s widow and daughter demand that the 47-year-old’s remains be returned. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who describes himself as a devout Christian, mocks the remains of the dead man and displays “open satanism,” said widow Yulia Navalnaya in a video message published on Saturday. “Hand over Alexei. They tortured him alive and continue to torture him dead,” she said. “They break every human and divine law.”
Russian opposition activist
Alexej Navalny – Pictures from a life in resistance
“Give grandma my father’s body,” wrote Navalny’s daughter Darja on the social network X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday. Her grandmother Lyudmila Navalnaya said in a video on Thursday that Putin’s authorities wanted to force her to attend a secret funeral and threatened to harm the body. Navalny’s widow accused Putin of continuing to torment Alexei’s mother and wanting to break her.
Vladimir Putin versus Alexei Navalny
Although Putin poses in Russian Orthodox churches with a candle in his hand and kisses icons, he is actually driven by hatred and a desire for revenge, said Yulia Navalnaya. “No, it’s not even hate, it’s satanism, paganism.” But faith is about goodness, about mercy, about redemption. “And no true Christian could ever do what Putin is doing now with dead Alexei.”
According to authorities, Navalny died on February 16 in the penal camp with the unofficial name “Arctic Wolf” in the Siberian Arctic region of Yamal. The circumstances of his death are not clear. The politician, weakened by the poison attack and repeated solitary confinement in the camp, is said to have collapsed during a tour of the icy prison yard and died despite attempts to resuscitate him. According to Navalny’s team, the death certificate mentions “natural” causes.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
