Navalny's mother accuses Russian investigators of trying to force secret burial

By Felix Light and Mark Trevelyan

(Reuters) -Alexei Navalny's mother accused Russian investigators on Thursday of planning to bury her son in secret without a funeral, after days of struggling - so far in vain - to persuade them to hand over his body.

Lyudmila Navalnaya made the allegation in a YouTube video published six days after Russia's best known opposition politician died suddenly in the Arctic penal colony where he had been serving a long sentence.

"They want this (burial) to be done secretly, with no farewell. They want to bring me to the edge of a cemetery, to a fresh grave and say: here lies your son. I don't agree to this," she said.

There was no immediate response from Russian investigators.

Navalny's aides and family have accused President Vladimir Putin of having him killed, an allegation the Kremlin has angrily rejected.

His aides said on Thursday that the death certificate shown to his mother stated that he had died of natural causes.

Navalny, 47, was serving sentences totalling more than 30 years on charges including fraud and extremist activity that he said were trumped up to silence him. The death of Putin's most prominent critic has stunned Russia's opposition, one month before a presidential election in which the Kremlin leader is certain to secure a new six-year term.

Lyudmila Navalnaya said she had been taken to a morgue on Wednesday evening to see her son's body.

"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 me conditions on where, when and how Alexei should be buried. This is illegal," she said, dressed in black and speaking calmly and firmly.

DEATH CERTIFICATE

Navalny survived an attempt to poison him in Siberia in 2020 with what Western laboratories said was a Russian-made nerve agent, Novichok. In prison since January 2021, he had endured long spells in solitary confinement.

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."

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

The Kremlin has said it had nothing to do with Navalny's death, and that the circumstances are being investigated.

Putin has yet to comment on it. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the reaction of the West, where leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden have said they hold Putin responsible, as "hysteria".

A Navalny aide, Ivan Zhdanov, said on YouTube that Navalny's mother wanted to bury him in the Khovanskoye cemetery on the edge of Moscow, and for it to be a public event.

"I want you, who cared about Alexei, and for whom his death was a personal tragedy, to have an opportunity to say goodbye to him," Lyudmila said in her video, addressing his supporters in Russia.

Zhdanov said there was no question of Navalny being buried abroad.

"Alexei did not return to Russia in order to be taken away now," he said, referring to Navalny's decision to return to Russia in 2021 after treatment in Germany following his 2020 poisoning.

WIFE AND DAUGHTER

Navalny's widow Yulia, who is currently outside the country, has said she plans to continue her husband's work.

In a post on X, she said she and the couple's daughter Dasha, a student at Stanford University in California, were together and comforting each other.

"We will definitely cope with everything, my dear one. It's so good that you're at my side. I love you," she wrote.

Rights organisation OVD-Info said more than 83,000 people had signed a petition it drafted to Russia's Investigative Committee, asking for Navalny's body to be handed to his family. It did not publish the names of the signatories.

At least 800 people have signed a separate petition initiated by a group of Russian Orthodox priests, saying his family has the right to say farewell to Navalny and give him a Christian burial.

The petition urged the authorities to respect Navalny's memory, not only as an opposition politician but as a believer.

"Do not overshadow the tragedy of his death by refusing such a simple and humane request. Remember that everyone is equal before God," it said.

"Refusing to release the body of Alexei Navalny to his family will be perceived as a manifestation of ruthlessness and inhumanity. This decision could lead to even greater tension in society. We urge you not to go down this path."

Most of those who signed the priests' petition gave their full names despite the potential risk.

According to OVD-Info, 400 people in cities across Russia were detained at gatherings in memory of Navalny in the four days after his death.

The signatories' occupations ranged from lawyers and programmers to a life coach and a barista. One described himself as an "opponent of tyranny" and another said she was "just a person who finds this situation painful".

(Additional reporting by Darya KorsunskayaWriting by Mark TrevelyanEditing by Andrew Osborn, Bernadette Baum and Frances Kerry)