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The widow of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny president accused Vladimir Poutine to make fun Christianity while trying to force his mother to agree to a secret funeral after her death in a penal colony.
Yulia Navalnaya said in a video posted Saturday that Navalny’s mother, who wants her son’s body returned to her, is “literally tortured” by authorities who had threatened to bury Navalny in the Arctic prison. They suggested to her mother that she did not have much time to make a decision because the body was decomposing, Navalnaya said.
“Give us my husband’s body,” Navalnaya said. “You tortured him alive, and now you continue to torture him dead. You make fun of the remains of the dead. »
Navalny, 47, Russia’s best-known opposition politician, died suddenly on February 16 in the penal colony, prompting hundreds of Russians across the country to attend impromptu memorials with flowers and candles.
Authorities have arrested scores of people as they seek to suppress any major outpouring of sympathy for Putin’s fiercest foe ahead of the presidential election he is almost certain to win. Russians on social media say authorities do not want to return Navalny’s body to his family because they fear a public show of support for him.
Navalnaya accused Putin, an Orthodox Christian, of killing Navalny.
“No true Christian will ever be able to do what Putin is doing now with Alexei’s body,” she said, asking: “What will you do with his corpse?” How low will you go to make fun of the man you murdered?
Putin is often depicted in church, plunging himself into ice water to celebrate Epiphany and visiting holy sites in Russia. He promoted what he called “traditional values” without which, he once said, “society deteriorates.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejected allegations that Putin was involved in Navalny’s death, calling them “absolutely unfounded and insolent accusations against the Russian head of state.”
Musician Nadia Tolokonnikovawho rose to prominence after spending nearly two years in prison for participating in a 2012 protest with her band Pussy Riot inside Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior, released a video in which she accuses also Putin of hypocrisy.
“We were imprisoned for allegedly trampling on traditional values. But no one tramples on traditional Russian values more than you, Putin, your officials and your priests who pray for all the murders you commit, year after year, day after day,” said Tolokonnikova, who lives abroad. “Putin, have a conscience, give his mother his son’s body.”
Tolokonnikova was one of several cultural icons who posted videos calling on Russian authorities to return Navalny’s body to his family so they could give him a funeral. Navalny’s mother and his lawyers have been trying to recover his body since late last week.
Lyudmila Navalnaya said Thursday that investigators had allowed her to view her son’s body at the morgue in the Arctic city of Salekhard. She filed a complaint with the Salekhard court challenging the authorities’ refusal to return the body. A closed hearing is scheduled for March 4.
Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on X, formerly Twitter, that Lyudmila Navalnaya had received a medical certificate stating that her son had died of “natural causes.”
