Despite the massive police presence and repression, thousands of people are in Moscow for the funeral of Kremlin opponents Alexey Navalny he came. Expressions of grief have since morphed into open anti-Kremlin protests and anti-war protests – the first such demonstration in a long time. According to civil rights activists, more than 100 people were arrested in Russia at the Navalny mourning events.
The civil rights platform OWD-Info wrote Friday night about 128 arrests in 19 cities. “There may be more people arrested at any police station than on the published lists,” he says. In most cases, those affected were released after a short period of time. Most of the arrests took place in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk. At least 31 people were detained there, OWD-Info reports. In the Ural metropolis Yekaterinburg, police arrested another 19 people. It is said that there are 17 people in Moscow, three of whom will have to spend the night at the station.
Alexei Navalny was buried in Moscow on Friday. Thousands of people participated in the funeral ceremonies
A large police force was at the scene and metal barriers were installed in the square in front of the church. Relatives said goodbye to the open coffin in the church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Ease my suffering” in the southeastern neighborhood of Marjino. Navalny's team showed in a live broadcast on YouTube how the body lay covered in flowers in the coffin, surrounded by countless people during the service. Alexei Navalny's face was also visible. His mother, holding a candle, and his father sat next to the coffin during the ceremony.
The song “My Way” was played at the funeral
The coffin was then transported to Borisovskoye Cemetery for burial. An orchestra played funeral music. The song “My way” was played. The body was covered with a cloth before the coffin was closed and lowered into the ground. The widow Julia Navalnaya, daughter Daria and son Zahar did not attend the funeral service as they are abroad for their own safety. Navalny's wife accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of murdering her husband. She would risk being arrested in Russia. Navalny's team is also not in the country because his employees, considered extremists, would also be immediately arrested.
Navalnaya paid tribute to her husband at the X shortly after his funeral on Friday and thanked him for “26 years of absolute happiness.” She wrote: “I don't know how I'll live without you, but I'll do my best to make you happy for me and proud of me. I don’t know if I’ll make it, but I’ll try.”
Navalny's mother says goodbye. Wife Yulia Navalnaya, daughter Daria and son Sakhar did not attend the funeral
The crowd was huge
Despite the large presence of uniformed police and other security forces, many of them masked, the crowd was huge. A two-kilometer line of people waiting to say goodbye to Navalny formed in front of the church. Many people applauded and shouted Navalny's name. The brown coffin was removed from the church after the funeral in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Relieve my suffering” in the southeastern neighborhood of Marjino. He was then transported to the funeral scheduled for 4pm (2pm CET) at Borisovskoye Cemetery.
People openly protested against Putin. “Russia without Putin!”, “Putin is a murderer!”, “Russia will be free!” and “No to war!” people shouted in chorus, as reporters from the German Press Agency reported on Friday. They spoke of a tense atmosphere due to the large number of uniformed officers from the Omon special police.
However, courts in one region classified the name “Navalny” as a banned extremist symbol and, on this basis, in recent days sentenced people who wrote the name of the murdered opposition leader on posters to administrative punishments. The information was reported on Friday night by the NGO “First Department”, specialized in political justice, and is based on an instruction from Moscow for this reading.
People openly protested against Putin
In a live broadcast on YouTube, Navalny's team showed thousands of people chanting “Nawalny, Navalny, Navalny” behind barriers made of metal bars. They shouted, “We have not forgotten. We have not forgiven.” Some also shouted: “You were not afraid. And we are not afraid.” Many of the statements come from Navalny, who, although he was free, once led tens of thousands of people into the streets to protest against the Kremlin. Navalny's officials urged people to remain calm.
According to Itamaraty, Austria's ambassador in Moscow, Werner Almhofer, represented the republic at the funeral. Green Party foreign policy spokeswoman Ewa Ernst-Dziedzic, who wanted to travel to Moscow, was not granted a Russian visa. She laid a wreath in front of the Russian embassy in Vienna. NEOS MP Stephanie Krisper also attended the memorial event. NEOS foreign policy spokesman and leading EU candidate Helmut Brandstätter laid a wreath in front of the Russian Consulate General in Salzburg. SPÖ deputy Petra Bayr, SPÖ foreign policy spokeswoman, emphasized in a broadcast the Putin regime's responsibility for Navalny's death.
400 arrests since Navalny's death
According to OWD-Info, 400 people have been arrested at mourning rallies for the Kremlin critic since Navalny's death. Even after his death, Navalny is putting the power apparatus on alert. Putin officials fear that the opposition leader's supporters could protest against the Kremlin leader. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned on Friday that every citizen is responsible for taking part in unauthorized actions on the streets. At the same time, he responded to a Russian journalist's question about whether the Kremlin had anything to say about Navalny's death: “No, nothing.”
Knips-Witting (ORF) at Navalny's funeral
Putin wants to be confirmed as president in elections two weeks from now. Navalny's supporters and family, as well as human rights activists, accuse Putin of having ordered the murder of the Russian opposition leader in custody. The Kremlin rejects this.
According to authorities, Navalny died on February 16 in the penal camp with the unofficial name “Arctic Wolf” in the Siberian Arctic region of Yamal. The circumstances of his death are unclear. The politician, who was weakened by a poison attack in 2020 and repeated solitary confinement in the camp, reportedly collapsed during a visit to the prison's freezing courtyard and died despite attempts to resuscitate him. According to Navalny's team, the death certificate mentions “natural” causes.
(agencies, best, mod)
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