Lyudmila Navalnaya, mother of deceased Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, stated that she has finally received access to her son’s body.
In a report by Reuters, Lyudmila had also alleged that she had faced threats of “blackmail” by Russian investigators urging her to hold a secret burial ceremony for her son without mourners.
Lyudmila made these allegations in a YouTube video.
“They want this to be done secretly, with no farewell. They want to bring me to the edge of a cemetery, to a fresh grave and say: here lies your son. I don’t agree to this,” she said in the video.
According to Russia’s state news agency Tass, the Russian Opposition leader’s mother, had filed a lawsuit at a court in the Arctic city of Salekhard, demanding the release of her son’s body.
Russian authorities had then declined to do so, stating the body would be held for two weeks for “chemical analysis.”
Lyudmila also stated in the video that she had received a death certificate stating that her son died of “natural causes.”
The Kremlin has not reacted to her claims on the video.
Navalny, 47, died suddenly in an Arctic penal colony last week and his death has become a political issue between Russia and the West
President Biden who has openly blamed President Putin for Navalny’s death, stated that he was now considering even “more sanctions” on Moscow.
Russia however claims the death of the Opposition leader is an internal matter for Russia.
Reacting to the comments made by western leaders, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov called the west’s reaction to the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny “hysteria.”
He said that western countries had no right to meddle in Russia’s affairs.
