The Russian authorities have transferred the physique of the opposition chief Aleksei A. Navalny to his mom, his spokeswoman stated on Saturday, ending a grim battle for custody of his stays, however it’s unclear whether or not he’ll get a funeral that the general public can attend.
“Aleksei’s physique has been handed over to his mom,” Mr. Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, stated in a press release posted on social media. “The funeral is but to come back. We don’t know whether or not the authorities will intrude with carrying it out in the best way the household needs and as Aleksei deserves.”
Mr. Navalny’s mom, Lyudmila Navalnaya, on Saturday was nonetheless within the northern metropolis of Salekhard, close to the Arctic jail the place Mr. Navalny was reported to have died on Feb. 16, Ms. Yarmysh stated. She added that the opposition chief’s workforce would launch details about the funeral “because it turns into obtainable.”
Mr. Navalny’s household and aides have accused the Russian authorities of protecting his physique hostage and “blackmailing” his mom into agreeing to bury him in secret. On Friday, Ms. Yarmysh stated that officers in Salekhard had given Ms. Navalnaya an ultimatum demanding that she assent to such a secret funeral inside three hours, or else that he can be buried on jail grounds.
That deadline handed on Friday night with none new info from Mr. Navalny’s aides. The Russian authorities haven’t commented on the Navalny workforce’s model of occasions. The circumstances of Mr. Navalny’s loss of life stay unclear; in line with Ms. Yarmysh, Ms. Navalnaya acquired a medical report earlier this week that stated he had died of pure causes.
The information that Ms. Navalnaya, 69, acquired custody of the physique recommended that the Russian authorities had relented after a dayslong social media marketing campaign by Mr. Navalny’s workforce. On Saturday, Mr. Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, 47, launched a six-minute YouTube video denouncing President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia for maligning the Christian values he professes as he “mocks Aleksei’s mom and forces her to comply with a secret funeral.”
The query now could be how Mr. Navalny’s funeral will take form. The dispute over custody of his physique seems to replicate the Kremlin’s fears a couple of public funeral in Moscow turning into a focus for protest.
