Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Jarmisch announced this on Wednesday on the X platform (formerly Twitter). First, a farewell ceremony will take place in a church in the southeastern district of Marjino at 2 p.m. local time (12 p.m. CET). Navalny will be buried at the nearby Borisov Cemetery, it said.
Navalny’s supporters had previously spent days looking for a place to hold the memorial service and complained that they were being hindered by the Russian authorities. According to official information, Navalny died on February 16 at the age of just 47 in a prison camp north of the Arctic Circle. The sharp critic of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin was physically very weakened by a poison attack in 2020 and constant solitary confinement in the camp. His supporters and many international observers therefore agree that there can be no question of a “natural” cause of death, as is stated on the death certificate.
Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya reported to the EU Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday that her husband’s body had been mistreated. Navalnaya said in her speech that she was also not sure whether the funeral service on Friday would be peaceful or whether the police would arrest participants.
What also caused particular horror was that the authorities initially kept Navalny’s body under lock and key for around a week and his mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, had to search for the body in the polar region together with a lawyer. Navalnaya also complained that she was harassed by investigators and blackmailed into agreeing to a secret burial. But she didn’t do that – instead she publicly demanded that relatives and supporters should have the opportunity to say goodbye to her son.
Difficult search for location for funeral service
Finally, Navalny’s team declared that they wanted to organize a location for the funeral service. However, as expected, the search has been difficult in the past few days. Shortly before the presidential election on March 17th, any major critical events are a thorn in the side of the Kremlin. Hundreds of people were recently arrested while laying flowers for Navalny.
Updated: 11:59 a.m
