Russian authorities have transferred the physique of opposition chief Aleksei A. Navalny to his mom, his spokesman mentioned on Saturday, ending a bitter battle for custody of his stays, however it’s unclear s He may have a funeral that the general public can attend. .
“Aleksei's physique has been handed over to his mom,” Mr. Navalny's spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, mentioned in a press release. published on social media. “The funeral continues to be to return. We don't know if the authorities will intervene within the realization in the best way the household desires and as Aleksei deserves.”
Mr. Navalny's mom, Lyudmila Navalnaya, on Saturday was nonetheless within the northern city of Salekhard, close to the Arctic jail the place Mr. Navalny was pronounced useless on February 16, Ms. Yarmysh mentioned. She added that the opposition chief's crew will launch details about the funeral “when it turns into out there.”
Mr Navalny's household and aides have accused the Russian authorities of holding his physique hostage and of “blackmailing” his mom into agreeing to bury him in secret. On Friday, Ms. Yarmysh mentioned officers at Salekhard had given Ms. Navalnaya an ultimatum demanding that she comply with such a secret funeral inside three hours, or he can be buried on the jail grounds.
That deadline handed on Friday night with none new data from Mr. Navalny's aides. Russian authorities haven’t commented on the Navalny crew's model of occasions. The circumstances of Mr. Navalny's dying are unclear; in line with Ms. Yarmysh, Ms. Navalnaya acquired a medical report earlier this week that mentioned she had died of pure causes.
The information that Ms Navalnaya, 69, had acquired custody of the physique urged Russian authorities had relented after a day-long social media marketing campaign by Mr Navalny's crew. On Saturday, Mr. Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, 47, posted a six-minute YouTube video denouncing President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia for slandering the Christian values he professes as “mocking of Aleksei's mom and forces him to just accept a secret funeral.
The query now could be methods to take the type of Mr. Navalny's funeral. The dispute over custody of his physique seems to mirror Kremlin fears {that a} public funeral in Moscow would develop into a flashpoint for protest.
