Crowds gathered at the funeral procession of Putin’s staunch opponent Alexei Navalny.
Moscow: On Friday, people bid farewell to Russia’s leading opposition leader Alexei Navalny after his death in jail two weeks ago. During this time, amidst the deployment of a large number of police personnel, a crowd of thousands of people gathered for his last journey. The family members of Navalny (47), who was a bitter critic of President Vladimir Putin, had to make a lot of efforts to get the body. Navalny’s supporters have said that many churches in Moscow refused to hold the funeral of Navalny, who campaigned against corruption in the government and organized large demonstrations, but finally a church in the Maryino district agreed to do so.
Many leaders of Western countries have blamed Putin for Navalny’s death, although Russia’s presidential office ‘Kremlin’ has rejected this allegation. Navalny’s team obtained permission for his funeral from ‘The Church of the Icon of the Mother of God Soothe My Sorrows’. After Navalny’s coffin was removed from the vehicle and taken to the church, people gathered there chanted “Navalny!” Navalny! Raised slogans.” Some people said, ”You were not afraid, neither are we!’ We don’t want war.” Russian presidential aspirants Boris Nagedin and Yekaterina Duntsova along with US Ambassador Leanne Tracy were also present on the occasion along with diplomats from Western countries.
Now only Boris and Yekaterina’s challenge for Putin
After Navalny, now only Boris and Yekaterina are left as challenges for Putin. Both of these leaders want to contest the upcoming presidential elections and have opposed Putin’s Ukraine war. A photo from inside the cathedral shows Navalny’s coffin covered in red and white flowers with his mother sitting next to him holding a candle. Navalny’s father was also present but it is not clear which other family members attended. Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya addressed the European Parliament in France two days ago. His daughter is a student at Stanford University, but there is no information about his son’s whereabouts. The funeral ceremony was broadcast live on Navalny’s YouTube channel.
Kremlin said that if people break the law then action will be taken
The Russian Presidential Office was also surprised to see the huge crowd at Navalny’s funeral. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged people gathered in Moscow and elsewhere not to break the law, saying any unauthorized gathering would be a violation of the law. Thousands of people attended the funeral procession from the cathedral to the Borisovskoye cemetery. Police personnel were also deployed in the cemetery. Navalny’s parents and others touched his body when the coffin was opened. After this, the coffin was lowered into the grave. Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalny, fought for eight days to recover his body after he died on February 16. The officials had argued that they could not hand over the body as the post-mortem was pending.
Navalny was serving a 19 year sentence
Navalnaya had requested President Vladimir Putin through a video message to hand over the body so that she could perform her son’s funeral in a dignified manner. Navalny was serving a 19-year prison sentence on extremism charges. He was transferred to a maximum-security prison in the town of Kharp in the remote Arctic region of central Russia in December last year. Russian officials have not yet disclosed the cause of Navalny’s death. The Russian government declared Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and its regional offices as extremist organizations in 2021. (AP)
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