Alexei Navalny’s body was abused after he died in the Arctic gulag, his grieving widow has told the European Parliament.
Speaking to the European Parliament in Strasbourg today, Yulia Navalnaya, 47, said that her late husband’s body had been abused and that she was not sure if his funeral on Friday would be a peaceful event.
She also warned Putin, who she accused of having her husband killed: ‘You are not dealing with a politician but a bloody monster.’
Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s strongest domestic critic, fell unconscious and died suddenly at the age of 47 on February 16 after a walk at the ‘Polar Wolf’ penal colony above the Arctic Circle where he was serving a three-decade sentence.
The West and Navalny’s supporters, including his widow, say the Russian president is responsible for Navalny’s death.
The Putin critic’s funeral will be hosted at the Borisovskoye cemetery after a farewell ceremony starting at 2pm at a church in the Maryino district, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Kremlin warned yesterday that Russians should not use Navalny’s funeral as a moment for protests.
‘These people, so-called supporters [of Navalny] are well known for their provocative calls – to break the laws of the Russian Federation,’ said Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
‘This is a very harmful practice and has legal and law enforcement consequences for those who respond to these calls.’
Yarmysh urged Navalny supporters to arrive ‘in advance’ if they want to come and pay their respects as many are expected to turn up for the funeral in southern Moscow.
His allies have confirmed that Navalny’s funeral service will be held at the ‘Mother of God Quench My Sorrows’ church in southern Moscow on Friday.
It is unclear whether Navalny’s wife Yulia – who has been living in Germany since her husband’s arrest in 2021 -, his two children or his mother Lyudmila will be there.
The cause of his death at age 47 is still unknown according to Russian authorities.
