Russian authorities are threatening to bury Alexei Navalny in the Arctic prison colony where he died unless his family agrees to a closed burial, a team of opposition leaders said on Friday.
The 47-year-old Kremlin critic died last week after more than three years in prison, sparking anger and condemnation from Western leaders and their supporters.
Several prominent Russian cultural figures and activists called on authorities to hand over the body to his mother, who arrived at a prison in northern Siberia on Saturday.
“An hour ago, an investigator called Alexei’s mother and gave her an ultimatum,” Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh told X (formerly Twitter ) wrote in a post on.
“She had three hours to agree to a secret funeral without a public farewell, otherwise Alexei would be buried in the colony.”
Yamish added that his mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, “refuses to negotiate… because they have no right to decide how and where to bury her son.”
Ivan Zhdanov, an exiled ally of the late leader, said she had now filed a lawsuit alleging that his body was “desecrated”.
Navalny’s team says the Kremlin remains “afraid” of the opposition leader even after his death.
They believe the authorities do not want a public funeral because it would represent support for Navalny’s campaign against Putin.
They have previously called Putin a “killer” and tried to cover their tracks by not allowing an independent forensic analysis of Navalny’s body.
– ‘Putin is scared’ –
After days of being denied visits, Navalny’s mother Lyudmila said Thursday she was finally allowed to see her dead son’s body.
But she said authorities were unwilling to grant her custody and wanted to bury him secretly.
More than 25 filmmakers, artists, Nobel laureates and opponents of President Vladimir Putin have so far called for the release of Putin’s body in videos posted by their team on social media.
They include Nobel Prize-winning editor Dmitry Muratov, protest rock band Pussy Riot member and activist Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, writer Viktor Shenderovich and film director Andrei Zvyagintsev.
Muratov said: “It is embarrassing to talk about this in a country that considers itself still a Christian country. Just give her son Lyudmila Ivanovna… without any conditions.” .”
He added that authorities tried to keep Navalny in solitary confinement even after he was dead – as they did during his three years in prison.
“Putin has been afraid of Navalny for many years of his life,” said Shenderovich, an author and longtime critic of Putin.
“Putin was afraid of Navalny after he died – and he was still afraid of him after he killed Navalny,” he added.