Russia has issued an ultimatum to Alexei Navalny's mother after she demanded Kremlin officials “immediately hand over my son's body.”
Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said today that Russian authorities had told Lyudmila Navalnaya that he would be buried in the penal colony where he died unless she agreed within three hours to lay him to rest without a public funeral.
Yarmash said she refused and continued to demand that his body be handed over to her. There was no immediate comment from authorities.
Navalnaya, 69, revealed that she was secretly taken to the morgue in Salekhard to see his body, but claims state investigators are refusing to hand over the body to her for burial.
She made the accusation in a YouTube video posted on Thursday, in which she accused officials of “threatening” to “do something” with Navalny's body if she did not agree to a secret funeral without mourners.
Navalnaya also claimed that an investigator warned: “Time is not on your side, bodies are rotting.”
Navalny's spokeswoman said Lyudmila Navalnaya (pictured in a video released on Thursday) rejected the ultimatum and continued to demand that his body be handed over to her
Navalny, 69, revealed that Navalny was secretly taken to the morgue in Salekhard to see his body, but claims state investigators are refusing to hand over the body to her for burial
But the grieving mother defends herself against the “illegal” practice and says: “I demand the immediate release of Alexei's body so that I can bury him like a human being.”
Navalnaya's revelations suggest that state investigators want to prevent an independent examination of the Russian opposition leader's body for signs of torture or murder and also want to prevent a public funeral where thousands could come to pay their respects.
There was no immediate response from Russian investigators.
Navalny, Putin's harshest domestic critic, fell unconscious on Friday after a walk in the Polar Wolf penal colony where he was serving a three-decade sentence and died suddenly at the age of 47, prison authorities said.
In the video, Navalnaya said: “I just left the building of the Investigative Committee of the city of Salekhard.”
“I spent almost a day there alone, with investigators and forensic experts.”
“The lawyer was only allowed in today after lunch. Last night they secretly took me to the morgue, where they showed me Alexei.
“Investigators claim to know the cause of death.”
She didn't say if she knew what that was.
The West and Navalny's supporters, including his widow Yulia, 47, say Putin is responsible for Navalny's death.
The Kremlin denied involvement and said Western claims that Putin was responsible were unacceptable.
Navalny, 47, fell unconscious and died suddenly last Friday after a walk in the Polar Wolf penal colony above the Arctic Circle, where he was serving a three-decade sentence, prison authorities said
Putin himself has made no public comment on Navalny's death, but it has deepened the gaping divide in relations between Moscow and the West caused by the nearly two-year war in Ukraine.
“They have all the medical and legal documents ready that I have seen,” Navalnaya added. “And I signed the death certificate. According to the law, they should hand over Alexei's body to me immediately, but they haven't done so yet.
“Instead, they are blackmailing me by imposing conditions on where, when and how Alexei should be buried.”
“This is illegal.” I saw orders coming in my presence, either from the Kremlin or from the central apparatus of the Investigative Committee.
“They want it to be done secretly and without farewell.” They want to take me to the edge of a cemetery to a fresh grave and say, “Here lies your son.” I don't agree with that.'
“I want everyone who was dear to Alexei and for whom his death became a personal tragedy to have the opportunity to say goodbye to him.”
“I'm recording this video because they started threatening me and looking me in the eyes. They say if I don’t agree to the secret burial they will do something to my son’s body.”
Since Putin's troops invaded Ukraine, the scope for dissent in Russia has narrowed even further. Russian authorities have tightened restrictions on speech and jailed critics, often ordinary people, sometimes for decades.
Hundreds of people who laid flowers across Russia in memory of Navalny were arrested.
Putin himself has made no public comment on Navalny's death, but it has deepened the gaping divide in relations between Moscow and the West caused by the nearly two-year war in Ukraine
Navalnaya appeared in a video earlier this week and appealed to Putin to hand over her son's body so she could bury him with dignity.
As she stood in front of the Arctic penal colony where Navalny died last Friday, she spoke to the camera: “I haven't been able to see him since the fifth day.”
“They didn’t want to give me his body,” she said.
“And they don’t even tell me where he is,” a black-clad Navalnaya said in the video, looking at the barbed wire at Penal Colony No. 3 in Charp, about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow.
“I turn to you, Vladimir Putin,” she said. “The solution to this matter depends solely on you.” Finally, let me see my son.
She named one state investigator – Voropaev – who “told me frankly, 'Time is not on your side.' The body falls apart. “I don’t want any special conditions, I just want everything to be done in accordance with the law.”
She added: “I demand that Alexei's body be released immediately so that I can bury him like a human being.”
Russian authorities said Navalny's cause of death was still unknown and refused to release his body for the next two weeks while the preliminary investigation continued, members of his team said.
They accused the government of trying to hide evidence.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has rejected the allegations of a cover-up, telling reporters that they are “completely unfounded, outrageous accusations against the Russian head of state.”
With Navalny's death, the Russian opposition has lost its best-known and inspirational politician, less than a month before an election that will almost certainly give Putin another six years in power.
The West and Navalny's supporters say Putin is responsible for Navalny's death
Many Russians saw in Navalny a rare hope for political change amid Putin's relentless crackdown on the opposition.
Navalny, 47, had been detained since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recovering in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. He has since received three prison sentences on charges he dismissed as politically motivated.
About 400 people have been arrested across Russia since Navalny's death as they tried to pay tribute to him with flowers and candles, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors political arrests.
Authorities cordoned off some memorials to victims of Soviet repression across the country that served as sites for makeshift memorials to Navalny.
At night the police removed the flowers, but new ones keep appearing.
Peskov said police acted “in accordance with the law” by arresting people who paid tribute to Navalny.
More than 60,000 people have applied to the government to hand over Navalny's remains to his relatives, OVD-Info said.
After the latest verdict, which resulted in a 19-year prison sentence, Navalny said he understood he was “serving a life sentence measured by the length of my life or the lifespan of this regime.”
In a video on Monday, his widow Yulia Navalnaya said: “By killing Alexei, Putin killed half of me, half of my heart and half of my soul.”
“But I still have the other half, and it shows me that I have no right to give up.”
“I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny,” Navalnaya said.