AP Moscow
Moscow
Updated Saturday, February 24, 2024-16:51
The body of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, which his relatives had requested for more than a week, was handed over to his mother, the Russian opposition's spokesman Kira Yarmysh said on Saturday.
"Alexei's body has been handed over to his mother," she wrote on the X network.
Yarmysh said he did not know whether authorities would allow a funeral to be held "as the family wants and as Alexei deserves."
The team of the deceased Russian dissident leader reported on Friday that an agent called the mother of the prominent dissident, Liudmila Navalnaya, and gave her an
ultimatum
: either she accepted a secret funeral in three hours without a public farewell, or her son will be buried. in his own prison.
Navalny's mother has refused to negotiate, pointing out that officials are not authorized to decide
how and where her son should be buried
.
The opponent's family demands that the law be followed, according to which investigators are obliged to deliver the body within two days of determining the cause of death.
According to the medical documents she signed, these two days expire on Saturday.