Lyudmila Navalnaïa says she is resisting strong pressure from the authorities to accept a discreet burial, out of public view.
The mother of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, Lyudmila Navalnaïa, said Thursday that she had seen the body of her son and that she was resisting strong pressure from the authorities to accept a secret burial, outside the public view.
In a video statement broadcast from the Arctic town of Salekhard, Lyudmila Navalnaya said investigators had allowed her to view her son’s body at the town’s morgue. She said she was reaffirming the demand to hand over the body and protested what she described as an attempt by authorities to force her to agree to a secret burial.
“They are blackmailing me, they are setting conditions as to where, when and how my son must be buried”she said. “They want him to be buried secretly, without a mourning ceremony.”
Mr. Navalny’s mother filed a complaint with a court in Salekhard to challenge the authorities’ refusal to return her son’s body. A closed hearing is scheduled for March 4. On Tuesday, she asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to release her son’s remains so that she could bury him with dignity.
Since Alexei Navalny’s death, around 400 people have been arrested across Russia while trying to pay tribute to him with flowers and candles, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors political arrests. Authorities sealed off some of the memorials to victims of Soviet repression across the country, which were used as sites to lay impromptu tributes to the opponent.
