The mother of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny visited his grave on Saturday, a day after thousands of Russians risked arrest to pay tribute to the anti-corruption campaigner at his funeral.
Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic for more than a decade, died in an Arctic prison colony last month, where he was serving a 19-year sentence on “extremism” charges largely seen as political retribution for his opposition to the Kremlin.
His mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, visited his grave, which was covered in flowers and wreaths, at the Borisovo cemetery in southern Moscow early yesterday morning.
Photo: AFP
She was accompanied by Alla Abrosimova, the mother of Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya.
Yulia Navalnaya, the couple’s two children and Navalny’s brother all live abroad and did not attend the funeral, where they could have been arrested for their own opposition to Putin.
Most of his closest aides — in jail or in exile — were also unable to attend the service in the Maryino district of Moscow, where Navalny used to live.
Photo: Reuters
Despite a heavy police presence and official warnings, thousands of mourners on Friday paid their respects to the 47-year-old.
Navalny’s body first lay in an open casket in a packed church in Maryino, southern Moscow, for a ceremony attended by his parents.
The coffin was closed immediately after the service, meaning many mourners who had wanted to file past were not able to pay their last respects at the Mother of God Quench My Sorrows church.
It was transported to the Borisovo cemetery, near the banks of the Moskva River, where several large wreaths were arranged around the grave.
“We won’t forget you,” “Forgive us” some people shouted as the coffin arrived.
“No to war,” some also chanted while others yelled “Down with the power of murderers” and “We will not forgive.”
Rights monitoring group OVD-Info said police had arrested at least 128 people attending tributes to Navalny in 19 cities across Russia on Friday.
“Any unauthorized gatherings will be in violation of the law and those who participate in them will be held responsible,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to TASS news agency.
“What are they afraid of? Why so many cars?” one mourner, Anna Stepanova, said outside the church.
“The people who came here, they are not scared. Alexei wasn’t either,” she added.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised the thousands who turned out as “courageous” and French President Emmanuel Macron also paid tribute to the “courage” of those who went to pay their last respects.
The French, German and US ambassadors were seen among mourners outside the church, as were some of Russia’s last free independent politicians.
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