Alexei Navalny’s dead body was handed over to his mother by the Russian authorities, a Navalny spokesperson was quoted as saying by the news agency AFP.
The development comes after she was reportedly told to agree to a “secret” burial.
In a post on social media platform X, Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh expressed gratitude to people across the world who demanded the return of leading Russian opposition figure’s body.
“The funeral is yet to take place,” she wrote.
Also watch | Gravitas: Alexei Navalny, Putin’s fiercest critic, mysteriously dies in Russian jail
“We don’t know whether the authorities will interfere with it being carried out in the way the family wants and as Alexei deserves.”
Navalny’s team on Friday (Feb 23) said they had filed a lawsuit to obtain the body. They accused that the local investigators had threatened to bury him on the prison grounds if his mother did not agree to a “secret” funeral. Yarmysh said plans for the funeral were still unclear.
“Lyudmila Ivanovna is still in Salekhard.”
“The funeral is still pending. We do not know if the authorities will interfere to carry it out as the family wants and as Alexei deserves,” she said.
Previously, Navalny’s team had said that authorities in Russia were attempting to block a public funeral for the popular Opposition leader. This, they said, was to prevent a potential show of support for Navalny’s movement and the way he was the chief opponent to Vladimir Putin’s rule.
Delay in returning of Navalny’s body disrespect of Christianity: Wife Yulia
Earlier, Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya had accused President Vladimir Putin of disrespecting Christianity by attempting to force Navalny’s mother into agreeing to a secret funeral.
Hours before Navalny’s body was returned, Navalnaya published a video claiming that the Russian authorities were torturing Navalny’s mother, who wished to have her son’s body returned to her.
“Give us the body of my husband,” pleaded Navalnaya. “You tortured him alive, and now you keep torturing him dead. You mock the remains of the dead.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who famously never mentioned Navalny’s name in public, has not commented on the mysterious death of his most vocal critic.
(With inputs from agencies)
