Document was presented to the Russian activist's mother; She says she is being blackmailed into keeping the funeral secret
Lyudmila Ivanovna, mother of Russian activist Alexei Navalny, released a video on Thursday (February 22, 2024) in which she says she gained access to her son's body after almost a week. She reported reading Navalny's death certificate and speaking to investigators. On X (formerly Twitter), Kira Yarmysh, the activist's spokesperson, said: he said that the document shows that he died of natural causes.
Navalny's death was reported on February 16 by the prison service of Russia's YamalNenets district in Siberia, where he was serving his sentence. The activist reportedly felt unwell after a walk and “lost consciousness almost immediately.”
Navalny, who has been imprisoned since 2021, was sentenced to 19 years in prison on August 4 for “extremist acts,” which include founding an NGO, demanding and financing acts and activities against the government, and “rehabilitating Nazi ideology.”
On Tuesday (February 20), the spokeswoman said Navalny's body had not been released to his family and was being held by authorities for 14 days to conduct “chemical tests.”
In the video, the Russian activist's mother said that investigators already had all the legal and medical documents needed to release the body. According to her, they plan to bury Navalny “secretly” and without a wake.
“They want to take me to the edge of the cemetery, to a new grave and say: Here lies your son. I don’t agree with that,” she said, adding that she was being blackmailed. “They looked me in the eyes and said if I didn’t agree to a secret burial they would do something with my son’s body,” he said.