On February 16, Navalny felt ill after a walk and lost consciousness almost immediately, according to the (French) prison authorities.

The burial ceremony for Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny will be held in Moscow on Friday, amid tight security measures and fears of a police crackdown, two weeks after his sudden death at the age of 47 in a penal prison facility in the Arctic.

Navalny's allies, who promised to broadcast today's events live over the Internet, accused President Vladimir Putin of killing him because the Russian ruler did not accept the idea of ​​releasing Navalny in a possible prisoner exchange, calling on citizens to attend the funeral and burial ceremonies.

They did not publish any evidence to support this accusation, but they promised to explain how he was killed and by whom.

A wide security deployment is expected, and there are fears that uniformed officers will prevent Navalny's supporters from arriving to participate in the funeral.

Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, also made an appeal to attend the funeral ceremony.

Navalny's mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, received her son's body last Saturday, days after she asked the authorities to hand over the body to her.

Navalny is famous for his opposition to Putin's policies (French)

Accusations and denials

On the other hand, the Kremlin denied state involvement in Navalny's death, and said that it was not aware of any agreement to release him.

His death certificate stated that he died of natural causes, according to what his allies said.

A religious mass for Navalny is scheduled for 14:00 local time in a church in the Marino district of Moscow, where he lived, and then he will be buried two hours later in the Borisovskoe cemetery, which is about 2.5 km away on the other side of the Moskva River.

Navalny is a Russian politician famous for exposing corruption and opposing the rule of President Vladimir Putin. He was accused of embezzlement and sentenced to 5 years in prison with a suspended sentence. His candidacy for the 2018 presidential elections was rejected, and he led demonstrations calling for a boycott of the elections.

He died in prison on February 16 of last year.

Source: Agencies