Navalny's mother sees his body, accuses Russian officials of pressuring her into 'secret burial'

Lyudmila Navalnaya, the mother of Alexei Navalny, has seen the body of the Russian opposition figure who died in prison, and accused officials of pressuring her into having a "secret" burial for her son. Navalny died last week in an Arctic prison.

In a video published by Navalny's team on Thursday (Feb 22) , her mother said, "They are blackmailing me, they put conditions for where, when and how Alexei should be buried. This is illegal. They want it to be done in secret." 

So far, the Russian investigators have not responded. 

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Russia's state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday that Lyudmila filed a lawsuit in the Arctic city of Salekhard, challenging the refusal to release her son's body. Citing court officials, it reported that a closed-door hearing is scheduled for March 4. 

Previously, she had urged Putin to hand over her son's body. Her message to Putin came after she travelled to the remote IK-3 prison where her son had died, but she was prevented from seeing his body. 

The 47-year-old Putin critic died suddenly in an Arctic penal colony, and the West accused Putin of direct involvement. His aides and family have alleged that the Kremlin murdered him, an allegation the Kremlin has rejected. 

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Lyudmila saw her body and death certificate 

According to Lyudmila, she has been shown a death certificate and his body. She was taken to a morgue on Wednesday evening to see his body. Navalny's aides said the death certificate stated that the opposition politician had died of natural causes. 

"The investigators claim that they know the cause of death, they have all the medical and legal documents ready, which I saw, and I signed the medical death certificate," she said. 

"According to the law, they should have given me Alexei’s body right away, but they have not done so until now. Instead, they are blackmailing me, setting conditions on where, when and how Alexei should be buried. This is illegal." 

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Navalny's mother said: "I'm recording this video because they started threatening me. Looking into my eyes, they say that if I don't agree to a secret funeral, they will do something with my son's body."

She quoted one of the investigators as saying: "Time is not on your side, corpses decompose." 

She added, "I don't want special conditions. I just want everything to be done according to the law. I demand that my son's body be returned to me immediately." 

(With inputs from agencies)