Alexei Navalny’s body released to his mother after she refused to negotiate over funeral ultimatum
The body of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been handed over to his mother, his spokesperson has said.
“Alexei’s body was given to his mother. Thank you very much to everyone who demanded this with us,” Kira Yarmysh wrote on X.
Details of his funeral were yet to come, she said, adding it was unclear if the Russian authorities would “interfere” or if it would be carried out as “the family wants and Alexei deserves”.
“We will provide information as it becomes available,” she said.
Mr Navalny’s mother Lyudmila Navalnaya was given an ultimatum yesterday, with officials saying the Kremlin critic would be buried in the penal colony where he died unless she agreed within three hours to lay him to rest without a public funeral.
Ms Navalnaya refused to negotiate with investigators because “they do not have the authority to decide how and where she should bury her son”, Ms Yarmysh said.
Mr Navalny was the most well known critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and campaigned against official corruption. He also led major anti-Kremlin protests.
His death in the penal colony on 16 February prompted mourners across Russia to attend memorials with flowers and candles. Hundreds were arrested.
While the cause of his death remains unknown, Western leaders including US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have made clear they hold Mr Putin responsible.
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From 22 February: Alexei Navalny’s mother shares update on son’s body.
Mr Navanly’s widow Yulia Navalnaya and his mother also blame the Russian regime for the death of the 47-year-old activist.
Earlier on Saturday, Yulia Navalnaya accused Mr Putin of mocking Christianity by trying to force Mr Navalny’s mother to agree to a secret funeral for her son.
“No true Christian could ever do what Putin is now doing with the body of Alexei,” she said, adding: “What will you do with his corpse? How low will you sink to mock the man you murdered?”
The widow also said in a video released on Saturday that his mother had been “literally tortured” by officials who threatened to bury her son in the Arctic prison.
She said the authorities suggested to Mr Navalny’s mother that she didn’t have much time to make a decision because his body was decomposing.
“Give us the body of my husband,” Ms Navalnaya said. “You tortured him alive, and now you keep torturing him dead. You mock the remains of the dead.”
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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia attend a Moscow court hearing in 2015
On Thursday his mother said investigators had allowed her to see her son’s body in the morgue in the Arctic city of Salekhard.
She filed a lawsuit at a court in Salekhard contesting officials’ refusal to release the body, and a closed-door hearing had been scheduled for 4 March.
On Friday, Mr Navalny’s daughter Dasha shared a photo of her with her parents as a child, and the message: “I love you, kiss you, hug you tightly, and miss you very, very much.”
It was her first direct tribute to her father since his death was confirmed a week ago.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has rejected allegations that Mr Putin was involved in Mr Navalny’s death, calling them “absolutely unfounded, insolent accusations about the head of the Russian state”.
Saturday marks nine days since the opposition leader’s death, a day when Orthodox Christians hold a memorial service.
Residents of several Russian cities came out to mark the occasion and honour Mr Navalny’s memory by leaving flowers at public monuments or holding one-person protests.
At least 27 had been detained in nine Russian cities by 12.45pm local time on Saturday, according to the OVD-Info rights group.
More than 100 politicians from 24 different countries, including the UK, the US and the EU, have written a joint letter condemning China over the “arbitrary detention and unfair trial” of Jimmy Lai, a tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner.
The parliamentarians, led by senior British Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, are “urgently” demanding the immediate release of the 77-year-old British citizen, who has been held in solitary confinement at a maximum security prison in Hong Kong for almost four years.
The letter – which will be embarrassing for Beijing – was made public on the eve of Mr Lai’s trial resuming and on the day after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a G20 summit of economic powers in Brazil.
It also comes as Hong Kong jailed 45 pro-democracy activists.
The group of politicians, who also include representatives from Canada, Australia, Spain, Germany, Ukraine and France, said Mr Lai’s treatment was “inhumane”.
“He is being tried on trumped-up charges arising from his peaceful promotion of democracy, his journalism and his human rights advocacy,” they wrote in the letter, which has been seen by Sky News.
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Starmer meets Chinese president
“The world is watching as the rule of law, media freedom and human rights in Hong Kong are eroded and undermined.
“We stand together in our defence of these fundamental freedoms and in our demand that Jimmy Lai be released immediately and unconditionally.”
Sir Keir raised the case of Mr Lai during remarks released at the start of his talks with Mr Xi on Monday – the first meeting between a British prime minister and the Chinese leader in six years.
The prime minister could be heard expressing concerns about reports of Mr Lai’s deteriorating health. However, he did not appear to call for his immediate release.
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From October: ‘This is what Hong Kong is’
Ms Kearns, the MP for Rutland and Stamford in the East Midlands, said the meeting had been an opportunity to be unequivocal that the UK expects Mr Lai to be freed.
“Jimmy Lai is being inhumanely persecuted for standing up for basic human values,” she said in a statement, released alongside the letter.
“He represents the flame of freedom millions seek around the world.
“We have a duty to fight for Jimmy Lai as a British citizen, and to take a stand against the Chinese Community Party’s erosion of rule of law in Hong Kong.
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“This letter represents the strength of international feeling and commitment of parliamentarians globally to securing Jimmy Lai’s immediate release and return to the UK with his family.”
Mr Lai was famously the proprietor of the Chinese-language newspaper Apple Daily in Hong Kong, which wrote scathing reports about the local authorities and the communist government in mainland China after Britain handed back the territory to Beijing in 1997.
The tabloid was a strong supporter of pro-democracy protesters who took to the streets of Hong Kong to demonstrate against the government in 2019.
But the media mogul was arrested the following year – one of the first victims of a draconian new security law imposed by the Chinese Communist Party.
His newspaper was closed after his bank accounts were frozen.
Mr Lai has since been convicted of illegal assembly and fraud. He is now on trial for sedition over articles published in Apple Daily.
World
Hong Kong jails 45 pro-democracy activists after accusing them of trying to overthrow the city’s government
Forty-five pro-democracy activists have been jailed in Hong Kong’s largest ever national security trial.
The activists sentenced with jail terms ranging from four years to ten years were accused of conspiracy to commit subversion after holding an unofficial primary election in Hong Kong in 2020.
They were arrested in 2021.
Hong Kong authorities say the defendants were trying to overthrow the territory’s government.
Democracy activist Benny Tai received the longest sentence of ten years. He became the face of the movement when thousands of protesters took to the city’s streets during the “Umbrella Movement” demonstrations.
However, Hong Kong officials accused him of being behind the plan to organise elections to select candidates.
Tai had pleaded guilty, his lawyers argued he believed his election plan was allowed under the city’s Basic Law.
Another prominent activist Joshua Wong received a sentence of more than four years.
Joshua Wong was sentenced to more than four years Pic: AP
Wong became one of the leading figures in the protests. His activism started as a 15 year old when he spearheaded a huge rally against a government plan to change the school curriculum.
Then in 2019 Hong Kong erupted in protests after the city’s government proposed a bill that would allow extradition to mainland China. It peaked in June 2019 when Amnesty International reported that up to two million people marched on the streets, paralysing parts of Hong Kong’s business district.
The extradition bill was later dropped but it had ignited a movement demanding political change and freedom to elect their own leaders in Hong Kong.
China’s central government called the protests “riots” that could not continue.
Hong Kong introduced a national security law in the aftermath of the protests.
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A woman is taken away by police outside the court Pic: Reuters
The US has called the trial “politically motivated”.
Dozens of family and friends of the accused were waiting for the verdict outside the West Kowloon Magistrates Court.
British citizen and media mogul Jimmy Lai is due to testify on Wednesday.
Meeting on the sidelines of the G20 in Brazil, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told China’s President Xi Jinping he’s concerned about the health of Lai.
He faces charges of fraud and the 2019 protests. He has also been charged with sedition and collusion with foreign forces.
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