A spokesman for deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said his body had been handed over to his mother.
Spokesperson Kira Yarmysh announced that Navalny’s body had been handed over by the Russian government after several days of pleas from his mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya.
“Alexei’s body has been handed over to his mother,” Yarmysh announced on social media on Saturday. “Thank you to everyone who requested this from us. Lyudmila Ivanovna is still in Salekhard.”
Alexei Navalny’s mother demands Putin hand over her son’s body ‘for a humane burial’
In this photo taken from a video provided by the Navalny team, Lyudmila Navalnaya, the mother of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, appears from Salekhard, Russia’s Arctic city 1,937 kilometers (1,211 miles) northeast of Moscow. spoke in a video statement. The mother of Russia’s main opposition leader Alexei Navalny has accused investigators investigating her son’s death of threatening her, forcing her mother to agree to a secret burial in public. She said she tried to persuade him. (Navalny Team, via AP)
“The funeral is still pending. We do not know whether the authorities will intervene to give Alexei the funeral he deserves, as his family wishes,” Yarmysh continued. “We will let you know as soon as we receive further information.”
The transfer of Navalny’s body follows a long series of accusations from his loved ones that the Russian government tried to intimidate and blackmail him into agreeing to a “secret burial” out of public view.
Navalnaya first appealed for the safety of her son’s body during a speech outside the penal colony of Harup in northern Russia., Prison officials said Navalny collapsed and died after taking a walk last Friday. A prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin was serving time there on charges he said were politically motivated.
Alexei Navalny’s wife says: ‘Putin killed the father of my child’
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appears via video link from the Arctic penal colony, where he is serving a 19-year sentence provided by the Russian Federal Prison Service, during a hearing at the Russian Supreme Court in Moscow, Russia. Appears through. (AP/Alexander Zemlyanichenko)
“To President Vladimir Putin, it’s up to you to resolve the issue. Let me finally see my son,” she added. “We demand that Alexei’s body be handed over immediately so that he can be buried humanely.”
Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya later added on social media: “Please return Alexei’s body and let him be buried with dignity. Don’t stop people from saying goodbye to him.”
In another video on Monday, she claimed that her husband had been poisoned and that the Russians had been holding his body until all traces of the nerve agent had disappeared.
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People lay flowers in honor of Alexei Navalny at the Wall of Sorrow memorial to victims of political repression in Moscow, Russia. (AP/Dmitry Serebryakov)
Reuters reported that Navalny’s body reportedly had “marks of bruising,” but government officials told his mother last week that he died of “sudden death syndrome.”
World leaders, including President Biden, have condemned President Putin after Russia announced on Friday that Mr. Navalny had died in a Siberian penal colony, but the Kremlin has now called the comments “offensive.” The news agency added that it was.
