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MoscowNavalny: What will happen at his funeral tomorrow?
Alexei Navalny will be buried on Friday afternoon. The Kremlin sabotages production and pressures Navalny's mother. Worries about tomorrow are increasing.
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On Friday, March 1, Alexei Navalny, who died in custody at a Siberian camp, will be buried in Moscow.
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Navalny's group said the authorities wanted to prevent a public memorial service.
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Suspicious Secret Service agents threaten relatives and city officials resort to tricks. This prevented Navalny from being buried on February 29.
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Navalny's comrades fear that commemorations and arrests could be forced to cancel.
Alexei Navalny, 47, who was detained in a Siberian camp, is to be buried in Moscow on Friday, March 1. A public funeral will be held at noon in a Moscow church near his home. He will then be buried at the Borisovsky Cemetery southeast of Moscow – at least that's what Navalny's team wants.
But the Kremlin is apparently doing a lot to sabotage the farewell of Russia's best opposition figure. Ivan Zhdanov, director of Navalny's anti-corruption foundation, says in an interview to “Medusa” that the authorities are “still” trying to prevent people from honoring Navalny's memory.
He could not be buried on the 29th
At the same time, “relatives are threatened again.” The message in each case: “Either you have a quiet family funeral or you don't really get anything.”
Further Navalny's mother According to media reports, she was threatened by suspected employees of the domestic secret service FSB before she found her son's body. welcome can take
According to Zhdanov, Navalny should be buried on Thursday, February 29. But not all cemeteries in Moscow had graves that day.
Ban on death houses
“We discovered the excavation and offered to dig the grave ourselves – but they [die Friedhofsbehörden] “We didn't respond to that,” Zhdanov said. He suspects that the funeral could not have happened on the same day as Vladimir Putin's address to the nation.
Finding a funeral home is not easy. “At one point we were told funeral homes were prohibited from working with us,” said Kira Jarmish, spokeswoman for Navalny's group. This prevented the group from selecting a hall to perform alms.
Total demolition, arrest?
As Navalny's death became known, hundreds of mourners were arrested across the country during a public memorial service. The memorials paid by Malaranjali have now been removed.
Navalny's colleagues in Moscow worry that, in a worst-case scenario, authorities will make Friday's farewell all but impossible. “They are clearly stating that they will cancel everything,” said foundation director Zhdanov.
“The Right to Say Goodbye”
Julia Navalnaya, a 47-year-old widow, warns of possible police action in Moscow. “I don't know if it will be a peaceful funeral or if the police will arrest people who want to say goodbye to him,” he said (see box).
Navalny's team is firm: “People have the right to say goodbye to Alexei – anyway it will happen somewhere,” Zhdanov said. “There will be an open memorial service. Anyone who wants to say goodbye to Alexei will say goodbye.”
“They must be bored”
In her speech to the European Parliament, Yulia Navalnaya called on the West to take more effective action against Vladimir Putin. Putin shouldn't be hit by more sanctions: “If you want to defeat Putin, you have to be innovative and less boring,” Alexei Navalny's widow warned EU parliamentarians in Strasbourg.
“There is no need for declarations of concern, but instead look for mafia allies, discreet lawyers and donors in your countries.”
For this purpose, “methods of combating organized crime” should be used – “not diplomatic notes, but investigations into financial manipulations”.
“Wonderful Russia of the Future”
“My husband will not live to see what the wonderful Russia of the future will look like,” said the 47-year-old, who announced that she would continue Navalny's work. But I will do everything to make his dream come true.
Julia and Alexei Navalny have been married for over 20 years. She was by his side when he helped lead the biggest protests in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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