According to the Russian opposition team, the Kremlin handed over the body of Alexei Navalny to his mother

first Amendment: 02/24/2024 – 23:31

3 minutes

“Alexey’s body has been handed over to his mother,” the opposition leader’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh wrote in a message on X (formerly Twitter). He thanked all those who were urging the Russian authorities to do so.

He did not know whether “the authorities will prevent (the funeral) from being celebrated as the family wishes and as Alexei deserves,” he said, while in the morning the opposition leader’s widow Yulia Navalnaya promised to travel abroad. Her husband had accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of preventing the body from being returned to the family in order to continue the fight.

Kira Yarmysh announced that the opposition leader’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, was in Salekhard, the capital of the Yamalo-Nenets district of the Arctic region, where her son died in one of Russia’s harshest prisons.

Navalny’s supporters, as well as many Western leaders, have accused Vladimir Putin of being responsible for his death, with some even suggesting that he was murdered.

Lyudmila Navalnaya had been trying to recover her son’s body for more than a week. She accused the authorities of blackmailing her, threatening that if she did not agree to a secret cremation the body would be destroyed or she would be buried in a penal colony, where she would be tried for “extremism” and others. Was serving a 30 year jail sentence. Blame.

Had the funeral been public, it could have united many of his supporters and been embarrassing for the regime of Vladimir Putin, who is preparing for a new coronation in presidential elections on March 15-17.

In the 2010s, before the fall of the repressive machinery, Navalny managed to mobilize crowds, especially in Moscow, thereby positioning himself as Vladimir Putin’s main rival.

Since then, Ukraine has been invaded, leading to brutal repression that has decimated the opposition.

“One Blood”

The circumstances of Alexei Navalny’s death, which evoked intense emotions around the world, remain unclear. According to the Russian penitentiary services, he died as a result of a sudden illness “after a walk”.

Navalny’s team claims that the death certificate refers to “natural causes”, an official version which it rejects, and calls on the police, army and security services to provide them with any information about Navalny’s “murder”. Asks for.

In return, “we promise a reward of 20,000 euros and to arrange for their departure from the country if they wish.”

Angered by the death of Alexei Navalny, many Western countries have blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday accused President Putin of murder. “Putin claims to be powerful, but in reality powerful leaders don’t kill their opponents,” he said in Kiev during a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to mark the second anniversary of the Russian invasion.

The Kremlin boss did not react to the death of his chief critic, who miraculously survived a poisoning incident in 2020, for which he had already accused Vladimir Putin, despite the fact that he denied it. did.

Several lawsuits filed against the rival were widely condemned as political persecution against him.

Adapted from its French original

with AFP