Navalny’s body finally handed over to his mother
Pravda Ukraine
Russia’s prison employees have finally handed over the body of opposition leader Alexei Navalny to his mother.
Source: Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, on X (Twitter)
Quote: “The body of Alexei has been handed over to his mother. Huge thanks to everyone who demanded this together with us.
[Navalny’s mother,] Lyudmila Ivanovna is still in Salekhard. The funeral is still ahead. We do not know whether the authorities will hinder conducting it as the family wishes and as Alexei deserves. We will provide information as it becomes available.”
Background:
- On the afternoon of 16 February, Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service reported the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at Correctional Facility No. 3 in Kharp, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, in northwestern Siberia.
- Alexei Navalny had been imprisoned since early 2021. The Moscow City Court sentenced him to 19 years in prison in a special-regime colony for “extremism” in August 2023.
- On the morning of 19 February, Lyudmila Navalnaya arrived at the morgue in the town of Salekhard where the body of her son, opposition politician Alexei Navalny, was allegedly kept. Still, neither she nor her lawyers were allowed in. On 20 February, Lyudmila recorded a video appeal to the president of Russia, demanding her son’s body be returned so that she could bury him.
- On 23 February, Lyudmila reported that the prison administration threatened to bury her son’s body in the prison colony if she did not agree to a secret, quiet burial.
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