The mother of Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny said Thursday that she had been able to see the body of her son, after several days of waiting, but accused the Russian authorities of using “blackmail” against her to bury him “secretly”.
• Read also: Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny dies in prison at 47
“They want everything to be done secretly, without ceremony, they want to take me to the confines of a cemetery, near a fresh grave, and tell me ‘here lies your son.’ I do not agree with that,” declared Lyoudmila Navalnaïa, in a video released Thursday by the opponent’s team.
Ms. Navalnaïa said she was taken to the morgue and was able to see the remains. She also says she is in Salekhard, the capital of the Yamalo-Nenetsia district, a region in the Far North where Alexeï Navalny officially died in detention on February 16.
According to his mother, investigators have already established the cause of death, “and all the legal and medical documents are ready.”
According to the opponent’s team, the cause of death is listed as “natural”.
“Legally, they should have returned Alexei’s body to me immediately, but they didn’t. Instead, they are blackmailing me,” the mother criticized the opponent.
“I am recording this video because they started threatening me. Looking me in the eye, they say that if I refuse a secret funeral, they will do something with his body. The inspector […] told me openly ‘Time is against you, the corpse decomposes,’ she said.
“I want for you, those for whom Alexei was a loved one, for whom his death was a personal tragedy, there is an opportunity to say goodbye to him,” continued the opponent’s mother.
Since Saturday, Lyoudmila Navalnaïa had sought access to his body, with investigators ensuring that “expertise” was necessary. She even turned to President Vladimir Putin to win her case.
The team of Vladimir Putin’s main adversary, who died after three years of imprisonment in increasingly trying conditions, accuses the Kremlin of having Alexeï Navalny killed and of seeking to cover up his traces.