Hearse drivers are now refusing to carry the body of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny from the morgue to his funeral on Friday after receiving threats from unknown individuals, his allies said today.
Since the Kremlin critic’s death in prison almost two weeks ago, his team has accused authorities of trying to prevent him from having a proper public burial.
“What a shame,” Ivan Zhdanov, an exiled ally who headed Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, said Thursday.
“Now the hearse drivers refuse to take Alexei out of the mortuary.”
Navalny spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said funeral directors had received threatening calls from “unknown people” warning them not to transport Navalny’s body anywhere and that, as a result, no one had agreed to transport his body.
The funeral and farewell ceremony for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny will be held in Moscow on Friday, his spokesman has said.
There are concerns that some followers will use his funeral to protest and break the law.
Zhdanov said Navalny’s team would manage and find a solution anyway.
Navalny died two weeks ago, on February 16, in one of Russia’s harshest prisons in northern Siberia, known as the ‘Polar Wolf’.
There he was serving a 19-year sentence on charges widely seen as political retaliation for his staunch opposition to Vladimir Putin’s regime.
Authorities resisted handing over the politician’s body to his family for eight days, in what his team said was an attempt to “cover up” official involvement in his death.
Russian authorities said Navalny died of “natural causes,” but his team and some Western leaders have accused Putin of being directly responsible.
Navalny’s body was eventually handed over to his mother, but the Kremlin critic’s allies have since accused Russian authorities of blocking a civil memorial service they wanted to hold in his honor to prevent potential anti-Putin protests or dissent.
The Kremlin has said it has nothing to do with such deals.
Allies of the late dissident announced Wednesday that he will be buried in the Russian capital on Friday after a church service in the southeastern suburb where he used to live. Navalny’s allies have promised to livestream his funeral online.
However, details of the opposition leader’s funeral and how many mourners will be able to attend are still unclear, and authorities have not commented on how it will be managed.
On Thursday, Navalny’s allies asked people who wanted to honor his memory but were unable to attend his funeral to come to certain landmarks in their own cities on Friday afternoon at 7 p.m. local time.
Judging from previous gatherings of Navalny supporters, whom Russian authorities have designated as U.S.-backed extremists, there is likely to be a heavy police presence.
Russian police officers guard the area near the fence of the Borisov cemetery where Alexei Navalny is expected to be buried this week, on February 27, in Moscow.
The drivers of the hearse that will take Navalny to his resting place have received threats
Russian authorities will break up anything they deem resembles a political demonstration under protest laws.
Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, 47, has said she is unsure whether the funeral will take place peacefully or whether police will arrest attendees.
“I’m still not sure if it will be peaceful or if the police will arrest those who have come to say goodbye to my husband,” Navalnaya said Wednesday.
Navalny’s team said in a social media post that a funeral would be held at the Quench My Sorrows Mother of God Church in Maryino on March 1 at 2:00 p.m. (11:00 GMT). “Come early,” the post said.
The burial of the opposition leader, who had embraced Christianity, will take place at the Borisov cemetery, a few steps from the bank of the Moskva River.
It was also difficult to find a church willing to host the service, the team said, as the Kremlin feared that a public funeral could become a show of support for Navalny.
‘We started looking for a church and a hall for March 1st. Everywhere they refused to give us anything. In some places they told us it was prohibited,” said his exiled ally Ivan Zhdanov. Other allies said the places refused after hearing Navalny’s name.
“Alexei needs to be buried… To have the opportunity to say goodbye, it is better to come in advance,” he added.
Authorities had threatened to bury him on the grounds of the prison where he died unless his family agreed to a private ceremony, his team previously said.
Yulia Navalnaya (pictured), 47, said yesterday that her late husband’s body had been mistreated and she was unsure whether his funeral on Friday would be a peaceful event or whether police would make arrests.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, right, hugs his wife Yulia, as he was released by a court in Kirov, Russia, on July 19, 2013.
Navalny’s allies have accused President Vladimir Putin of assassinating him because the Russian leader allegedly could not tolerate the idea of Navalny being freed in a possible prisoner swap.
They have not released evidence to support that claim, but they have promised to explain how he was murdered and who murdered him.
The Kremlin has denied state involvement in his death and said it was not aware of any agreement to free Navalny.
His death certificate – according to his allies – said he died of “natural causes” after losing consciousness following a walk through his Arctic penal colony.
That claim has been dismissed by Navalny’s family, his supporters and Western officials.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, the European Parliament said Putin bore “criminal and political responsibility” for Navalny’s murder and must be held accountable.
“The Russian government and Vladimir Putin personally bear criminal and political responsibility for the death of their most prominent opponent, Alexei Navalny,” parliament said in a resolution passed with 506 votes in the 705-seat assembly.
Putin “should be held accountable,” he said.
Only nine legislators voted against the resolution.
Lawmakers also called for an “independent and transparent international investigation” into the circumstances of Navalny’s death.
A paper note that said “Hello.” “This is Navalny” is seen among the flowers left for the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at the Solovetsky Stone, a monument to political repression that has become one of the places of tribute to Navalny, in Moscow on the 23rd of February.
The West and Navalny’s supporters, including his widow, say Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured) is responsible for Navalny’s death.
Additionally, parliament called on EU members to “step up” support for Russian political prisoners and continue backing the democratic opposition in Russia.
Speaking in the European Parliament on Wednesday, Yulia Navalnaya said her husband’s body was abused after his death in the Arctic gulag.
She also warned about Putin, whom she accused of having her husband killed: “He is not a politician but a damn monster.”
The opposition leader rose to prominence thanks to his campaign against corruption, which he said was widespread at the top of Putin’s administration.
Navalny was detained in January 2021 when he returned to Russia after being treated in Germany for a poisoning attack suffered while campaigning against Putin.
That same year he received the EU’s highest human rights award, the Sakharov Prize.