MOSCOW, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Alexei Navalny’s mother on Thursday accused Russian investigators of “blackmail” over the late Kremlin opponent’s funeral, saying in a YouTube video that they were trying to force her to organize a secret and private ceremony, which she says she refused.
There was no immediate comment from Russian authorities.
Lyoudmila Navalnaya, who said she was able to see her son’s corpse, accused the Russian authorities of having threatened to “do something” with the body of Alexeï Navalny if she did not agree that the funeral would be secret.
“They want this to be done in secret, without a farewell. They want to bring me to the entrance of a cemetery, in front of a fresh grave, and say: here lies your son. I do not agree with that,” she says in the video.
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Alexei Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s best-known opponent, died suddenly last week at the age of 47 in an Arctic penal colony. His relatives accuse the Kremlin of having killed him, which the Kremlin strongly denies.
According to Alexeï Navalny’s team, the former lawyer’s death certificate states that he died of “natural causes”. (Reporting from the Moscow office; French version Jean Terzian, edited by Sophie Louet)
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