Lyudmila Navalnaya, Alexei Navalny’s mother, accused Russian officials on Thursday (Feb 22) of forcing her into arranging a “secret” burial for her son, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s major opponent. He perished last week in an Arctic prison. She also claimed he saw her son’s body.
In a video released by Alexei Navalny’s team, her mother stated, “They are blackmailing me; they have set conditions for where, when, and how Alexei should be buried.” This is illegal. “They want it done in secret.”
Russian investigators have not yet reacted
On Wednesday, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported that Lyudmila filed a lawsuit in the Arctic city of Salekhard, disputing the reluctance to release her son’s remains. According to court officials, a closed-door hearing is scheduled for March 4.
Previously, she had requested Putin to return her son’s body. Her plea to Putin came after she visited the distant IK-3 prison, where her son died, but was denied access to his body.
The 47-year-old Putin critic died unexpectedly in an Arctic jail colony, with the West accusing Putin of direct participation. His aides and family have claimed that the Kremlin assassinated him, which the Kremlin has denied.
Lyudmila viewed her body and death certificate
Lyudmila claims to have seen a death certificate as well as his body. She was transported to the morgue on Wednesday evening to see his body. According to Alexei Navalny’s aides, the death certificate said that the opposition lawmaker died from natural causes.
“The investigators claim that they know the cause of death, they have all the medical and legal documents ready, which I saw, and I signed the medical death certificate,” she said.
“According to the law, they should have given me Alexei’s body right away, but they have not done so until now. Instead, they are blackmailing me, setting conditions on where, when, and how Alexei should be buried. This is illegal.”
Alexei Navalny’s mother said: “I’m recording this video because they started threatening me. Looking into my eyes, they say that if I don’t agree to a secret funeral, they will do something with my son’s body.” She quoted one of the investigators as saying: “Time is not on your side, corpses decompose.”
She added, “I don’t want special conditions. I just want everything to be done according to the law. I demand that my son’s body be returned to me immediately.”