Alexei Navalny’s mother could see her son’s body and denounces “blackmail” by authorities who refused to hand him over – Liberation

She had been waiting for almost a week to see her son’s body. Lyudmila Navalnaya, the mother of Alexei Navalny, was finally able to see the remains of the Russian dissident, who died in detention last Friday. She said this in a 1′35 video aired on her son’s YouTube channel this Thursday, February 22 afternoon. She says she was taken to a morgue in the town of Salekhard in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, just outside the Arctic Circle, not far from the penal colony where she died. Where she could see her son’s dead body.

“I have just left the Salekhard Inquiry Committee. I spent almost 24 hours there alone with the investigators, they only let my lawyer in this afternoon., she begins. Dressed in black, seated at a table, she looks directly into the camera. “Last night, they discreetly took me to the morgue where they showed me Alexei’s body.”, she continues. According to her, the Investigative Committee staff specifically told her that they “Know the causes of death” Alexei Navalny and he has “All legal and medical documents ready”. “I saw them and signed the death certificate.”, she adds. According to the opposing team, the cause of death is listed as “Natural”.

But the morgue staff refused to hand over her baby’s remains. “According to the law, they should have handed over Alexei’s body to me immediately, but they haven’t done it yet.”, condemns Lyudmila Navalnaya. Later in the day, White House spokesman John Kirby urged Russian officials “Give him back his son”. He felt that mother “should be able to recover the dead body of his son and pay him due respect”.

Alexei Navalny’s mother condemns “Blackmail” For which her interlocutors introduced her. “They set the terms of where, when and how Alexey should be buried, She said that. “That’s illegal.” “In my presence, they received orders from the Kremlin or the Investigative Committee, they wanted it to be done in secret, without a farewell ceremony. They want to take me to the outskirts of the graveyard, to the fresh grave, and tell me ‘here is your son’. I don’t agree with that.”

At this burial site “secret”, Lyudmila Navalnaya says she wants a decent funeral. “I want you, for whom Alexei was a dear person, for whom his death is a personal tragedy, to have the opportunity to say goodbye.” And the grieving mother takes Bindu home: “I am recording this video because they started threatening me. Looking into my eyes, they tell me that if I don’t agree to a secret cremation, they will do something to my son’s body.”

She goes by the name “Investigator Varpayev” which, with utter insolence, “Clearly said: “Time is not on your side, the body decays” .

The mother of Vladimir Putin’s main opponent, until her death on Friday, after three years of detention – on a 19-year prison sentence – in terrible conditions, concluded this heartbreaking message with the words: “I don’t want special conditions, I want things to be done according to law. I request that my son’s body be returned to me immediately.

Lyudmila Naval came close to the penal colony where her son died on Saturday and has since sought access to his body. Investigators claimed that “expertise” was necessary to justify their refusal to even tell her where her son’s remains were. She ended up recording a video in front of the penal colony’s wire walls and spoke directly to President Vladimir Putin to win her case.

Navalny’s team and his widow, Yulia Navalny, accused the Russian president of murdering Alexei Navalny and trying to cover up the assassination.

President Joe Biden met privately with the opposition leader’s widow and daughter at the Kremlin in California on Thursday. Biden spoke with Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya in San Francisco “His sincere condolences for his terrible loss.”A White House press release also indicated that, adding that Biden reaffirmed the announcement of new sanctions against Russia on Friday.

Updated 02/22/2024 at 9:00 PM with a meeting between Joe Biden, Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya.