There are still 12 hours until the funeral of Alexei Navalny, the fiercest anti-Putin opponent, who died on February 16 in the Siberian penal colony where he was serving his sentence for “fraud.” In Moscow, and especially in the area where the funeral will take place, the atmosphere is very tense. “We can't even find a hearse to take the body from the church to the cemetery,” the late dissident's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh reported today. The funeral is scheduled for Friday, March 1, from 2 p.m. to 12 p.m. in Italy at the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God in Mar'ino, southeast of the capital. Then, about two hours later, his body was to be buried at the Borisovskoe cemetery. In the weeks after his death, Navalny's mother fought with all her might to first see and then get her son's body back; then also to be able to celebrate her funeral: the authorities tried in every possible way to force her to accept the strict secrecy, but she always resisted. But the Kremlin continues to put all sorts of obstacles in the way of the “success” of the final farewell. “Unknown people continue to call all funeral homes and threaten them if they agree to transport Navalny’s body,” the spokeswoman reported on the eve of the funeral.
What are the risks for those who go to the funeral?
It is currently not clear who from Navalny's family – apart from his mother – will take part: As far as we know, the risks for his widow Julia, who has been heavily exposed in the last few days, and for his daughters would be enormous. All three live abroad. It is not even clear how many people can or want to attend the ceremony, taking into account the explicit threats from the authorities, as well as the Kremlin's cloak of silence and denigration of Navalny's figure through the media. What is certain, the BBC reports, is that police are preparing to carefully monitor what will happen, and perhaps more. Images published on social media already showed an impressive police presence both in the area of the church and in the cemetery: the barriers are ready to be set up, and according to the Telegram channel RusNews, security cameras have already been installed “on every lamppost” around the cemetery . And not only that: After Yulia Navalnaya publicly expressed her fears about possible arrests at funerals in the European Parliament, the First Department – a group of lawyers and human rights defenders – warned about the possible use of “agents provocateurs” in the form of pro-government activists. The group preaches maximum attention and recommends that those planning to attend the funeral not use public transportation or carry items bearing Navalny's face or the symbol of his anti-corruption foundation.
Also read:
