01 March 2024 , 16:54
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Thousands of mourners defied police, chanting activist Alexei Navalny’s name today as the heroic opponent of President Vladimir Putin was finally buried.
Almost two weeks after many blamed Putin for Navalny’s death his widow in exile was forced to watch the funeral by livestream. Watched by balaclava-clad security officers and riot police tensions ran high as family and supporters buried Putin’s biggest political opponent.
Two dozen Navalny followers were detained as they tried to make it to the funeral, another was arrested at the site and more seizures are expected. But supporters chanted “Alexei, Alexei,” with others declaring: “We won’t forget you - please forgive us,” at the solemn and tense Moscow ceremony. One shouted: "You weren't afraid, neither are we!" and later "No to war!".
Anatoly Navalny (far left), the late Russian opposition leader's father, mourns next to his body (AFP via Getty Images)Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged those gathering in Moscow and other places not to break the law, saying any "unauthorised (mass) gatherings" are violations.
At a church ceremony before his burial Navalny’s sobbing parent’s kissed their son before the open casket was sealed and taken for burial. His mother Lyudmila Navalnya sobbed, covering the face of the 47 year-old politician with a funeral shroud.
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And even in death Navalny was defiant, drawing huge crowds of adoring followers and loved-ones, his coffin lowered to the tune of Frank Sinatra’ “My way.” It was apparently one of his favourite songs but the words will echo round the corridors of Kremlin from where Putin is suspected of having ordered his murder.
(AFP via Getty Images)In a heart-breaking tribute Navalny’s wife Yulia wrote on X: “I don’t know how to live without you.” Using the familiar term for Alexei she said: “Lyosha, thank you for 26 years of absolute happiness. For love, for always supporting me, for making me laugh even from prison, for the fact that you always thought about me. I don’t know how to live without you but I will try to make you up there happy for me and proud of me. I don’t know if I can handle it or not but I will try.”
Thousands gathered to send the activist off (AFP via Getty Images)Saying her final goodbye she finished with the words: “Love you forever. Rest in peace.” His supporters turned up in droves, lining the streets close to the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God Soothe My Sorrows, which agreed to hold the service but did not mention it on its social media page.
Navalny’s body lay in an open casket in the packed, southern Moscow church. His coffin was then closed after the service, which meant mourners wanting to file past their hero were not able properly to pay their respects.
He was then taken to the Borisovskoye cemetery close to the banks of the Moskova River, where loved ones had laid several wreaths.
Floral tributes and portraits of the late leader (AFP via Getty Images)Many feared arrest by Putin’s FSB thugs - although others could not be there as they are in exile having fled Russia. Some security officers at the funeral site were photographed in balaclavas as workers placed riot barriers close to the area. Brave Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison colony after years of fighting Kremlin corruption and even surviving a Novichok poison attempt on his life.
He was buried at the Borisovo cemetery in Maryino, a district of Moscow (AFP via Getty Images)His supporters say several churches in Moscow refused to hold the service before Navalny’s team got permission from one in the capital's Maryino district, where he once lived before his 2020 poisoning.
Police lined the road from a nearby subway station to the church with crowd-control barriers, and riot police deployed in big numbers earlier on Friday.
Navalny’s grieving mother, Lyudmila, spent eight days trying to get authorities to release the body following his Feb. 16 death at Penal Colony No. 3 in the town of Kharp, 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow.
The church was packed out with mourners (AFP via Getty Images)Authorities originally said they couldn't turn over the body because they needed to conduct post-mortem tests. Navalnaya, 69, made a video appeal to President Vladimir Putin to release the body so she could bury her son with dignity.
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Once it was released, at least one funeral director said he had been "forbidden" to work with Navalny’s supporters, the spokeswoman for Navalny’s team, Kira Yarmysh, said.
The service was held at the Mother of God Quench My Sorrows church (AFP via Getty Images)Mr Navalny’s team were unable to find a hearse for the funeral. Yarmysh said:"Unknown people are calling up people and threatening them not to take Alexei's body anywhere,"Russian authorities still haven't announced the cause of death for Navalny, 47, who crusaded against Putin and organized big protests./
It was not immediately clear who among Navalny’s loved ones would attend the funeral, with many of his associates in exile abroad due to fear of prosecution in Russia. The politician's team said the funeral will be livestreamed on Navalny’s YouTube channel.
His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, accused Putin and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin of trying to block a public funeral. She said: "We don't want any special treatment - just to give people the opportunity to say farewell to Alexei in a normal way," Yulia Navalnaya wrote on X.
In a speech in Strasbourg, France, she warned of fears that police might interfere with the gathering or would "arrest those who have come to say goodbye to my husband."