Alexei Navalny’s mother on Tuesday called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to hand over her son’s body “without delay”, with the opponent’s team accusing the authorities of hiding his remains to cover up a “murder”. Since his death in an Arctic prison announced on February 16, Alexeï Navalny’s mother and a lawyer have sought in vain to gain access to his remains. But, according to the opponent’s team, Russian investigators affirmed that they would not return his body for at least 14 days in order to conduct an “expertise”. A deadline, which, according to lawyers, could be extended for weeks.
In a video published Tuesday, his mother Lyoudmila Navalnaïa therefore addressed the Russian president directly to win his case, while Vladimir Putin has not publicly commented on the death of his main opponent after three years in prison. “I appeal to you, Vladimir Putin, the solution to this problem depends only on you. Let me finally see my son. I ask that Alexei’s body be returned without delay so that I can bury in a humane way,” she said, filmed near the penal colony where her son died.
“Let us bury him”
The Kremlin did not react immediately. On the other hand, on Tuesday he rejected the accusations of the widow of Alexeï Navalny, who claimed the day before that the Russian president had had her husband killed in prison. “These are gross and completely unfounded accusations against the Russian head of state, but given that Yulia Navalnaya became a widow a few days ago, I will not comment,” the spokesperson said. of the Kremlin, Dmitri Peskov.
“I don’t care how the spokesperson for a killer comments on my words. Return Alexei’s body and let us bury him with dignity, don’t stop people from saying goodbye to him,” retorted Ioulia Navalnaïa, on her X account (ex-Twitter). In a video published Monday, Yulia Navalnaïa promised to take over from her husband and continue her fight. On Monday, she attended a meeting of EU foreign ministers during which she called on the 27 not to recognize the result of the Russian presidential election in mid-March, which should lead to a new mandate for Vladimir Putin, in the absence of any opposition and against a backdrop of merciless repression.
400 people arrested
In Russia, modest attempts to pay tribute to the opponent, in the midst of repression and a campaign of intimidation against any criticism since the launch of the attack on Ukraine in February 2022, have been repressed. According to the specialized NGO OVD-Info, nearly 400 people were arrested by the police in nearly forty Russian cities for wanting to pay tribute to the opponent, in particular by laying flowers or lighting candles.
The Kremlin spokesperson on Tuesday deemed these arrests justified. “Law enforcement acts within the framework of the law,” said Dmitry Peskov. Furthermore, the latter described as routine the promotion by Vladimir Putin on Monday of senior officials of the Russian penitentiary services, three days after his opponent’s mother. “These are normal processes of advancement,” he commented.
“Gang Leader”
Alexeï Navalny, who was serving a 19-year prison sentence for “extremism” in a camp in the Russian Arctic, died on February 16 in detention, according to the prison services. After having miraculously survived a poisoning in August 2020, then treated in Germany, the activist, who became popular thanks to his investigations into the corruption of Russian power, chose to return to Russia in January 2021.
He was immediately arrested and successively sentenced to increasingly harsh sentences, in increasingly difficult conditions of detention, often in the cold of an isolation cell. The Western world strongly denounced his death and held the master of the Kremlin responsible. Vladimir Putin has not yet commented on the subject, although he has been informed. A long-time opponent and friend of Alexeï Navalny, Ilia Iachine, imprisoned in Russia for having denounced the assault on Ukraine, vowed to continue his fight.
In a letter released Tuesday by those close to him, Ilia Iachine also said he was “convinced” that the master of the Kremlin for a quarter of a century had “ordered” the opponent to be killed. “In Putin’s understanding, this is how power asserts itself: with murder, cruelty and revealing revenge. This thinking is not that of a statesman. It is that of “a gang leader”, castigated Ilia Iachine.