2024-02-24 08:18:30
The widow of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of taking the body of her husband, who died in custody, as a “hostage”. Putin wanted to “force Navalny’s mother Lyudmila to agree to a secret funeral,” Yulia Navalnaya said in an online video today. Putin gave the orders that said: “Don’t give him away, put pressure on the mother, break her, tell her that her son’s body has decomposed.”
“You tortured him while he was alive, now you are torturing him following his death,” Yulia Navalnaya added.
Investigators threaten a secret funeral
Lyudmila Navalnaya has been trying to gain access to her son’s body for more than a week. According to Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Jarmisch, Russian investigators threatened to bury Navalny’s body on the grounds of the penal colony where he died if his family did not agree to a secret burial.
According to observers, the Kremlin fears that a funeral might become a public event. Presidential elections are scheduled for mid-March in Russia. Putin’s renewed election victory is already almost certain, as he has no serious competition.
The death of Navalny, who had been imprisoned in Russia for years, became known on Friday last week. He died in a penal camp in the Arctic Circle at the age of 47. His death caused international consternation. Numerous Western politicians as well as Navalny’s widow blamed the Russian leadership and President Putin for his death. Moscow rejected the allegations.
1708769644
#Yulia #Navalnaya #Putin #body #hostage
