In Russia, cultural figures call for Navalny's remains to be returned

More than twenty figures from the Russian cultural and media world, critical of the Kremlin, have called on the authorities to hand over the body of Alexeï Navalny to his relatives, his mother affirming that Moscow wants to bury the opponent in secret.

Dmitri Mouratov, Andreï Zviaguintsev, Viktor Chenderovitch, Nadejda Tolokonnikova... The team of the anti-corruption activist, who died on February 16 in his penal colony in the Arctic in murky circumstances, has broadcast since Thursday evening, on social networks, the calls from numerous personalities. “It’s embarrassing to say this in a country that still considers itself Christian, but give Lyudmila Ivanovna (Alexei Navalny’s mother) her son,” said Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. For his part, the writer Viktor Chenderovitch, declared a “foreign agent” by Moscow for his criticism of the offensive in Ukraine, affirms that “Putin was afraid of Navalny for many years during his life. And Putin is afraid of Navalny after his death - after killing Navalny, he is still afraid of him.

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Alexeï Navalny's team accuses the Russian authorities of having "killed" the opponent in prison and of seeking to prevent a public funeral to avoid any demonstration of support from the Russians. The opponent's mother, Lioudmila Navalnaïa, spoke on Thursday, after finally seeing her son's body. She accuses the Russian authorities of using “blackmail” against her to bury her “secretly”.

In Russia, hundreds of people were arrested by the authorities last week for honoring the memory of the main opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has still not publicly commented on this death.