The body of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny was handed over to his mother more than a week after his death, according to a spokesperson for the politician.
The news comes after the authorities asked the mother to accept a “secret” burial or she would be buried within the prison colony where she died last week at the age of 47.
In a post on X (former Twitter), Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh thanked all those who demanded the return of the body.
“The funeral has not yet taken place.”wrote.
“We don’t know if the authorities will interfere in the way the family wants to carry it out and that Alexei deserves,” he added.
Navalny died on February 16 in a Russian prison in the Arctic Circle.
According to the Federal Penitentiary Service, the politician died after feeling unwell after a walk and “losing consciousness almost immediately.”
His mother, Lyudmila, spent the last week in the town near the prison where he died, first trying to confirm the location of his body and then demanding it be returned to her.
After signing a death certificate stating that he had died of natural causes, Authorities gave the woman three hours to agree to a “secret” funeral for her son.
If he did not agree, Navalny would be buried on the grounds of the prison where he died, Yarmysh said the opponent’s mother was told.
Lyudmila apparently refused, despite this, to negotiate with the authorities.
This Saturday, the opponent’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, accused Vladimir Putin of keeping her late husband’s body kidnapped and demanded his unconditional release.
In a new video posted on YouTube, the widow also questioned Putin’s Christian faith: “We already knew that Putin’s faith was false, but now we see it more clearly than before. “No true Christian would do what Putin is doing with Alexei’s body.”
Navalnaya returned to accuse the Russian president of being behind her husband’s death.
“You tortured him alive and now you continue to torture him dead. “You make fun of the remains of the dead,” the woman denounced.
The Kremlin has denied the accusations and has described the West’s reaction to the death of the opponent as “hysterical.”
Details about what happened to him remain scarce. His team has offered security officials a $22,000 reward and help leaving Russia in exchange for information about his death in prison.
Alexei Navalny was, for years, the most prominent opponent of the Russian leader.
In August 2020, former opposition leader was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok by a team of the Russian secret services.
The politician was transported by plane to Germany, where he was able to recover before returning to Russia in January 2021, where he was imprisoned.
His condition had deteriorated during the three years he spent in prison, where he complained that he had been denied medical treatment and had spent almost 300 days in solitary confinement.
In December he had been transferred to the IK-3 prison colony, popularly known as “Polar Wolf”one of the northernmost and harshest prisons in Russia.
Still, he appeared to be in relatively good spirits and health in a court video filmed a day before his death.
Attempts to commemorate his death have been met with a harsh response from Russian authorities, which has left hundreds of people detained.
Click to read more stories from BBC News World.
Remember that you can receive notifications from BBC News Mundo. Download the latest version of our app and activate them so you don’t miss our best content.
- Do you already know our YouTube channel? Subscribe!
- Who is Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s defiant widow and now “first lady” of the Russian opposition
- What is known about the death of Alexei Navalny, the Russian politician who opposed Putin
- The Oscar-winning film that tells the life of Navalny and asks him about his death