March 1, 2024, 17:10 GMT
Updated 2 hours ago
video caption,
Watch: “Nobody is afraid” – defiant crowd at Navalny’s funeral
Thousands of Russians defied fear and came to say goodbye to opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
President Vladimir Putin's harshest critic died in prison on February 16.
Authorities had warned that any protest was illegal. But police stood by in large numbers as the crowd chanted Navalny's name or their opposition to the Russian president.
Supporters and relatives, as well as many foreign leaders, blame Mr. Putin for his death.
Russian authorities deny such allegations, saying Navalny died of natural causes. He had served a long prison sentence in an Arctic penal colony on trumped-up charges.
There were fears authorities would crack down on Friday's funeral.
Indeed, on Friday morning there was a heavy police presence in Maryino, the Moscow district where the funeral took place – and where Navalny lived with his family for many years.
At one point, Navalny's team estimated that the line of people stretched well over a kilometer (0.6 miles), despite the gray winter day when temperatures were just above freezing.
But none of the police – many of them in full riot gear – intervened when the expressions of support for Navalny became overtly political.
Thousands chanted “No to war,” “Russia without Putin” and “Russia will be free” – slogans that have previously landed many Russians in prison.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz were among those who praised people for grieving in the face of the potential risk.
“That is [Navalny’s] Legacy,” Mr Macron wrote on social media. “Eternal memory.”
The memorial service began shortly after 2:00 p.m. Moscow time (11:00 GMT) at the Church of the Icon of Our Lady, Erase My Sorrows.
Great uncertainty followed and complaints from Navalny's team that the authorities had made the arrangements more difficult – even finding a hearse was a problem.
However, hundreds arrived hours before the trial began. Foreign dignitaries were later joined, including the ambassadors of the USA, Germany and France.
image description,
Thousands of people gathered in Moscow's Maryino district to pay their last respects to Alexei Navalny
The ceremony at the church was brief – an image on social media showed the open coffin, commonplace in Russia, with mourners paying their respects. Navalny's mother Lyudmila and his father Anatoly sat next to him.
As the church bell rang and Navalny's coffin was brought outside, people threw roses and carnations on the hearse and shouted: “We will not forget you!”
After the service ended, several people came up to Lyudmila, hugged her and said: “Thank you for your son” and “Forgive us”.
It is assumed that Navalny's widow Yulia, his children Daria (23) and Zakhar (15) and his brother Oleg lived abroad and were not present.
Yulia recently said she will continue his political work – meaning it may be unsafe for her to return to Russia, where Navalny's anti-corruption foundation has been declared an extremist organization.
During the funeral, she shared a poignant tribute on social media, thanking Navalny for “26 years of absolute happiness.”
“I don’t know how I’ll live without you, but I’ll try so that you – up there – can be happy and proud of me,” she said.
Her daughter Darya also posted a message online calling Navalny her “hero.”
“You have always been and always will be my role model,” she wrote.
In the absence of independent Russian media, Navalny's team at the Anti-Corruption Foundation has taken it upon themselves to provide a live stream of the mourning ceremonies.
The YouTube channel, through which Navalny regularly addressed his supporters, broadcast scenes from his funeral. More than a quarter of a million people tuned in throughout the day.
The funeral finally took place at Borisovskoye Cemetery at around 4:00 p.m.
Navalny's coffin was lowered into the ground to the sounds of Frank Sinatra's “My Way” and an orchestral rendition of the theme song from “Terminator 2.” “Navalny considered Terminator 2 to be the best film in the world,” his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on social media.
As dusk fell, people continued to line up outside the cemetery, where a sign reading “Putin killed him but didn't break him” was hung.
“It is not time to be cowardly. These people in our government are cowards because they are afraid of us,” one mourner told BBC’s Newshour. “We are just people with flowers and graves. That's all.”
According to Russian human rights monitoring group OVD-Info, at least 91 people had been arrested across Russia as of Friday evening for taking part in Navalny memorial events.
OVD-Info is usually a reliable and often the only source of information when it comes to public protests in Russia.
On the whole, however, the harsh and far-reaching crackdown that many had feared did not occur. In comparison, the authorities' response to people laying flowers at makeshift memorials after Navalny's death resulted in several hundred arrests.
It is possible that police will track down some of the participants in today's trial in the coming days. Earlier this week it was reported that surveillance cameras had been installed around the cemetery.
Before the funeral, the First Department – a group of lawyers and human rights defenders – had warned that arrests after the ceremony “could not be ruled out” and advised mourners to “stay under the radar of security forces – not to use public transport.” Apply for paperwork in the days following the funeral.
Online initiatives such as a website that allows users to light a “virtual candle” for Navalny have attracted hundreds of thousands of participants.
Friday was likely the largest opposition gathering in Russia since Navalny's imprisonment in January 2021.
Many of the mourners may have felt it was their last chance to meet with thousands of like-minded people.
For nearly a decade, Navalny managed to organize protests and marches that often drew tens of thousands in Moscow and beyond.
Now that he's gone, it's unclear who else could garner the kind of popular support he was able to muster.