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by Mick the Ram
Alexei Navalny’s mother has been told to agree to a “secret” burial, or accept that he would buried at the Arctic Circle penal colony where he died a week ago.
A spokesperson for the opposition leader’s mother, Lyudmila, said that she had refused to negotiate with the authorities as they “are not authorised to decide how and where her son should be buried”.
She was however forced, in what amounted to blackmail, to sign a death certificate saying he died of natural causes, which apparently meant that there became an obligation to hand over his body within two days of establishing death.
There has been a demand compliance with the law, but so far there has been no indication that it is going to happen.
More than 80,000 people have signed a petition to Russia’s investigative committee asking for Mr Navalny’s body to be handed to his family.
His widow, Yulia, has said he was killed on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which is a view shared by many.
The Kremlin of course has denied these allegations, calling the West’s reaction to the death “hysterical”.
Mr Navalny died on 16 February, with prison officials saying he had fallen ill after going for a “walk”.
Delaying tactics
The Kremlin, seemingly concerned that Mr Navalny’s funeral could turn into a massive public display of support, appear to be delaying action as long as possible and are prepared to go to any lengths to maintain their stance.
They obviously have the country’s presidential elections next month on their mind and continue to try to discredit any attempts to cast the blame their way. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, described publicly on 22 February, the west’s reaction to the death as being “hysteria”.
Defiant Lyudmila refusing to be bullied
It has become known that an ultimatum was given to Alexei’s mother, which basically demanded that either she agree to a secret funeral, without any sort of public farewell, or her son would be buried in the colony.
She was told that his body would be left to rot unless she complied, with one investigator callously saying: “Time is not on your side; corpses decompose.”
She was given three hours to accept, but to her immense credit, Lyudmila refused to be bullied and told the scheming investigators that there was no negotiating to be done because in her words: “they have no authority to decide how and where to bury my son”.
Backing from Nobel prize winner
Several prominent Russian public figures spoken out calling on the president to return the body to his family, with Nobel literature prize winner Svetlana Alexievich posting: “I want to appeal not only to the Kremlin. I want to ask all people, all of us, to keep on saying and saying that they must give back the body to his mother.”
Staggeringly insensitive
Russian officials and state media meanwhile have chosen to try and discredit Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of the late politician, in a move that was incredibly insensitive and strikes of desperation.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Putin’s security council, made a shockingly disrespectful and basically disgusting point to Russian journalists, saying: “Look at the smiling, happy face of Navalny’s widow; you get the feeling that she was waiting for this event all these years in order to unfold her own political life.”
In a dignified response, Yulia dismissed the deeply offensive comments on X, simply calling the former Russian president a “nobody”.
Extraordinary courage
US President Joe Biden has had a meeting with Mr Navalny’s widow and his daughter in San Francisco, where he is said to have expressed his admiration for Alexei Navalny’s “extraordinary courage” and his legacy of “fighting against corruption and for a free and democratic Russia”.
He also backed her claim against the Kremlin, saying that there can be “no doubt” that the Russian president was to blame for her husband’s death.
Increased sanctions
That meeting came just 24 hours before the US announced more than 500 new sanctions against Russia over both Mr Navalny’s death, and its invasion of Ukraine. They include measures against Russia’s main card payment system, financial and military institutions, and officials involved in Navalny’s imprisonment.
Companies involved in powering Russia’s war effort, developing the country’s future energy production and its co-operation with Iran over drones will also be hit.
It has also been reported that Mr Navalny’s team has offered security officers €20,000 and assistance in leaving Russia, in exchange for information about the Alexei Navalny’s death in prison.
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