Mother of Kremlin critic Navalny says she's resisting pressure to agree to a secret burial
Source: Associated Press
Mother of Kremlin critic Navalny says she’s resisting pressure to agree to a secret burial
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated 11:50 AM EST, February 22, 2024
MOSCOW (AP) — The mother of Russia’s top opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Thursday that she has seen her son’s body and that she is resisting strong pressure by authorities to agree to a secret burial outside the public eye.
Speaking in a video statement from the Arctic city of Salekhard, Lyudmila Navalnaya said investigators have allowed her to see her son’s body in the city morgue. She said she reaffirmed the demand to give Navalny’s body to her and protested what she described as authorities trying to force her to agree to a secret burial.
“They are blackmailing me, they are setting conditions where, when and how my son should be buried,” she said. “They want it to do it secretly without a mourning ceremony.”
Navalny’s mother has filed a lawsuit at a court in Salekhard contesting officials’ refusal to release her son’s body. A closed-door hearing has been scheduled for March 4. On Tuesday, she appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to release her son’s remains so that she could bury him with dignity.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-navalny-death-d5f54cf2aec6892b489c0c0a3a847efc