Russia | Alexei Navalny’s body handed over to his mother

(Warsaw) The remains of Alexeï Navalny, which his relatives had requested since his death in prison on February 16, were handed over to his mother, the Russian opponent’s spokesperson said on Saturday, adding that she did not know under what conditions. funerals would be permitted.

“Alexei’s body has been handed over to his mother,” Kira Iarmich wrote on

She added that she did not know if “the authorities will prevent (the funeral) from taking place as the family wishes and as Alexei deserves”, while in the morning Yulia Navalnaïa, who vowed to continue the fight for her husband, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of preventing the body from being handed over to the family.

Kira Iarmich indicated that Lyudmila Navalnaïa, the mother of the opponent, would be in Salekhard, the capital of the district of Yamalo-Nenetsia, the Arctic region where her son died in one of the harshest prisons in Russia.

The opponent’s supporters, and many Western leaders, have accused Vladimir Putin of his death, some citing murder, after three years of detention.

For more than a week, Lyoudmila Navalnaïa, the mother of the deceased, had been trying to recover her son’s remains. She had accused the authorities of blackmailing her, threatening to let the body decompose if she did not agree to a secret funeral or to bury him on the territory of the penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence. prison for “extremism”.

Read Laura-Julie Perreault’s column “The Revenge of the Navalnaïa”

If the funeral were to be public, it would risk mobilizing his supporters in large numbers, and being embarrassing for the regime of Vladimir Putin, which is preparing for a new coronation during a presidential election scheduled for March 15 to 17.

In the 2010s, before the repressive machine completely fell on him, Navalny managed to mobilize crowds, particularly in Moscow, thus gaining his status as Vladimir Putin’s number 1 opponent.

Since then, there has been the assault on Ukraine which led to merciless repression which decimated the opposition.

“Murder”

The circumstances of the death of Alexeï Navalny, which moved people around the world, remain unclear. According to the Russian Prison Service, he died after suddenly feeling unwell “after a walk”.

The opponent’s team claims that the death certificate mentions a “natural” cause, an official version that it rejects, calling on the police, military or members of the security services to communicate to them any information on the “murder” by Navalny.

In exchange, “we promise a reward of 20,000 euros and the organization of your departure from the country, if you wish”.

Several Western countries, outraged by the death of Alexei Navalny, have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being responsible.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau even appeared to accuse President Putin of assassination on Saturday.

“Putin claims to be powerful, but truly powerful leaders do not assassinate their opponents,” he said in Kyiv, during a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the occasion of the second anniversary of the Russian invasion.

The master of the Kremlin did not react to the death of his main detractor, who had miraculously survived a poisoning in 2020 for which he already accused Mr. Putin, despite his denials.

The multiple trials that had been brought against the opponent had been widely denounced as being political and a way of punishing him.