The World Briefly
February 26, 2024Keeping It Low-Key
Russia
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Russian authorities returned the body of opposition leader Alexei Navalny to his mother over the weekend, more than a week after the Kremlin critic died in an Arctic penal colony in mysterious circumstances, Sky News reported.
Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, confirmed that officials handed over the opposition leader’s remains to his mother Lyudmilla Navalnaya.
She added that authorities had tried to pressure Navalnaya, saying they would bury him in the penal colony if she did not agree to lay him to rest without a public funeral.
The mother refused to negotiate with the investigators because “they do not have the authority to decide how and where she should bury her son,” Yarmysh noted.
Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner and major critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, passed away on Feb. 16 with authorities saying he had died of “natural causes,” the Guardian noted.
But Navalny’s family and supporters have blamed the Russian government for his death. Western leaders, including United States President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, have held Putin responsible for the 47-year-old activist’s death.
His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, has accused Putin of mocking Christianity by “torturing” Navalny’s corpse and preventing him from getting a proper burial.
The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the opposition leader’s death.
Details of his funeral remain pending, but observers noted that the pressure to give Navalny a secret burial underscored the government’s efforts to prevent the funerary procession from turning into a public display of support for the opposition leader.
Shortly after his death, many Russians staged makeshift memorials to honor Navalny, prompting authorities to arrest hundreds.
More than 800 people have signed a petition – initiated by a group of Russian Orthodox priests – to allow Navalny’s family to give him a Christian burial.
Saturday marked nine days since the opposition leader’s death, a day when Orthodox Christians hold a memorial service.
In various Russian cities, residents paid tribute to Navalny by leaving flowers at monuments or staging one-person protests.
Human rights groups said authorities detained at least 27 individuals in nine cities.
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