Alexei Navalny's mother alleges Kremlin blackmail over secret burial plans
In a poignant video, Alexei Navalny's mother admitted that threats have started coming her way.
"I am making this video as they have begun threatening me"
"I spent an entire day at the Investigative Committee building, along with the investigators and criminologists. Only in the afternoon, they allowed the lawyer to join. Last night, they covertly took me to the morgue where they showed me Alexei," said Ludmila Navalny, mother of the deceased oppositionist.
She added that, according to the law, "they must return Alexei's body immediately", but "they haven't done it so far". "Instead, they are blackmailing me, dictating the terms regarding where, when, and how Alexei should be buried. This is illegal", stated the distressed woman.
Simultaneously, Alexei Navalny's press secretary Kira Yarmysh stated that the medical report given to Ludmila confirmed that the "cause of death was natural".
Ludmila added in the recording that the authorities want Alexei Navalny's funeral to be held in utmost secrecy. "They plan to take me to the edge of the cemetery, to a fresh grave, and say, 'This is where your son lies'. I don't agree. I want everyone to be able to pay their respects to him," she said. "I am making this video because they have begun threatening me. They hint that if I don't consent to a secretive funeral, they will tamper with my son's body," warns Ludmila Navalny.
Alexei Navalny's passing
On the 16th of February, Russian prison services announced that Navalny had suddenly passed away in a convict colony in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in the distant North. They stated he was "feeling ill" and subsequently "lost consciousness". Despite the intervention of emergency services and resuscitation attempts, the oppositionist passed away and claimed the prison services.
Shortly after the death of the Russian oppositionist, thousands of individuals protested in numerous European cities. Demonstrations also were staged in several Russian cities, which the Kremlin's machinery tried to crush relentlessly. So far, about 400 people have been arrested during these protests in Russian cities, according to OVD-Info, a human rights monitoring organization.
