While the circumstances surrounding the death of Alexeï Navalny, fierce opponent of Vladimir Putin, remain mysterious, his mother spoke on Thursday February 22 in a video on YouTube to denounce the attitude of the Russian authorities towards him.
Lyoudmila Navalnaya, who said she was able to see her son's body, accused investigators of blackmail, and claimed they were trying to force her to organize a secret and private funeral, which she said she refused.
“In secret, without a goodbye”
She specified that the Russian authorities had threatened to “do something” with the body of Alexei Navalny if she did not agree that the funeral would be secret.
"They want this to be done in secret, without a goodbye. 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.
There was no immediate comment from Russian authorities.
Also read: Alexeï Navalny: what we know about the death in prison of the Russian opponent
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".
With AFP
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