Navalny’s body was given to his mother. This is a rare case in recent years when public exposure of the authorities’ arbitrariness and international pressure helped. MO

Alexei Navalny's press secretary Kira Yarmysh reported less than 24 hours ago that the oppositionist's body was given to his mother and thanked everyone who demanded this along with Navalny's team.

“For now Lyudmila Ivanovna is in Salekhard. The funeral is yet to come. We don’t know whether the authorities will interfere with carrying them out the way the family wants and as Alexey deserves. We will report information as it becomes available,” Yarmysh said.

According to ally of the oppositionist Ivan Zhdanov, the Navalny family will have the most ordinary funeral, where people can come and say goodbye. The usual funeral service in the church and burial.

All week, thousands of Russians and citizens of other countries demanded that Navalny’s body be given back. Video messages were recorded by many famous journalists and public figures, people from the world of art and business.

That includes Nobel laureate Dmitry Muratov, choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov, historian Tamara Eidelman, TV presenter Tatyana Lazareva, leader of the Time Machine group Andrei Makarevich, musician Noize MC, businessman Evgeny Chichvarkin.

The refusal to release the body was absolutely illegal, Zhdanov insisted: “The powers of the Investigative Committee end as soon as they have established the natural causes of death. From then on, they must hand over the body within 24 hours.” Zhdanov noted that the mother was not even given a death certificate - this also turned out to be the subject of manipulation.

Today, on the 9th day from the day of death, in Moscow, a queue of people gathered at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior who came to honor the memory of Navalny. But the “eschniks” began to selectively detain those leaving the church, allegedly to “check documents,” Sotavision reports.

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