Alexei Navalny’s mother ‘being forced into secret funeral’ for her son

Russian authorities told Alexei Navalny’s mother her son would be buried in the Arctic penal colony where he died unless she agreed within three hours to a secret funeral, Navalny’s spokesperson has said.

Kira Yarmysh tweeted on Friday: “An investigator called Alexei’s mother an hour ago and gave her an ultimatum. Either she agrees to a secret funeral without a public farewell within three hours, or Alexei will be buried in the colony.”

Yarmysh said Lyudmila Navalnaya refused to negotiate with the investigators because “they have no authority to decide how and where to bury her son”.

“She demands that they comply with the law, which obliges investigators to hand over the body within two days of determining the causes of death,” Yarmysh wrote.

Map showing the location of the Polar Wolf prison colony where Alexei Navaly died. Polar Wolf is in the far north of Russia, near the Kara Sea and roughly as far east as central Kazakhstan.

On Thursday, Navalnaya said she had been shown the body of her son but that the authorities were “blackmailing” her into burying him in a secret ceremony without mourners.

Navalnaya said the investigators had threatened to let her son’s body rot unless he was buried in secret. She said one investigator had told her: “Time’s not on your side. The body is decomposing.”

Navalnaya was made to sign a death certificate saying her son died of natural causes.

Last Friday, Russia’s prison authorities reported that Navalny felt unwell after a walk and soon became unconscious at the prison in the town of Kharp. An ambulance arrived but he could not be revived, the service claimed.

Navalny’s team and his widow, Yulia, said he was killed by Russian authorities. The Kremlin denies all involvement in Navalny’s death. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Thursday described the west’s reaction to the death as “hysteria”.

The Kremlin appears to be going to great lengths to prevent Alexei Navalny’s funeral from turning into a public display of support for the opposition leader before the country’s presidential elections next month.

Several prominent anti-war artists and public figures have recorded videos calling on Vladimir Putin to hand Navalny’s body to his family. Among them are the Russian rock musician Andrei Makarevich and the Nobel peace prize winner Dmitry Muratov.

More than 80,000 people have signed a petition to Russia’s investigative committee asking for Navalny’s body to be handed to his family.