Photo : Collected
It seems that the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s honourable public burial is a security threat to the Kremlin.
Navalny's mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, has been forced to sign a death certificate saying he died of natural causes, understanding that his remains would be handed to his family.
His mother was told to agree to a "secret" burial for her son, or else he would be buried at the Arctic Circle penal colony, where he died a week ago.
She is demanding compliance with the law, according to which investigators are obliged to hand over the body within two days of establishing the cause of death. The two-day period expired on Saturday.
Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, in a six-minute video posted on YouTube, demanded that Russian authorities release his body for burial and accused a "demonic" Russian President Vladimir Putin of "torturing" his corpse.
Navalnaya accused Putin of holding her husband's body "hostage" and questioned Putin's often-professed Christian faith.
However, the Kremlin has denied the allegations, calling the Western reaction to the death "hysterical".
Meanwhile, the United States announced fresh 500 sanctions on Russia after Navalny's death.
The sanctions target those connected to opposition leader Navalny's imprisonment and include measures against Russia's main card payment system, financial and military institutions, and prison officials.
The European Union (EU) mulls fresh sanctions on Russia and has vowed to hold Moscow accountable after the death of dissident Alexei Navalny.
In a tit-for-tat retaliation, Russia's foreign ministry had significantly expanded a list of European Union officials and politicians banned from entering Russia in response to the latest round of sanctions by the bloc.
Navalny, the most high-profile critic of the Russian leader after he launched an anti-corruption campaign, has identified the Russian oligarchy responsible for money laundering.
There is presently no second political leader for critiquing Putin’s administration for wrong-doing and also blaming the Kremlin for the invasion of Ukraine.
In August 2020, the deceased opposition leader was poisoned using the Novichok nerve agent by a team of would-be assassins from the Russian secret services. He survived the poisoning and dared to return home, only to be whisked to prison from the airport.
Attempts Navalny’s death under mysterious circumstances, hundreds of mourners commemorating his death have been met by a heavy-handed response from Russian authorities, with makeshift monuments cleared and hundreds arrested.
There is justification for his mother Lyudmila and the widow Yulia's demand to immediately hand over the body by prison authorities to his family.
One wonders why would an opposition leader – planned to be given a public burial – would be a security issue for the Russian government. The gathering of mourners should not be considered a threat to the Kremlin.
Messenger/Disha
