Russia: Alexei Navalny’s mother at the grave after the funeral, which attracted thousands of people

Time for reflection. The mother of Alexei Navalny, a leading critic of Vladimir Putin who died in prison under unclear circumstances, visited his grave on Saturday, a day after a funeral at which thousands of Russians paid tribute to him despite the risk of arrest.

Alexei Navalny, the Russian president’s most vocal critic for more than a decade, died on February 16 at age 47 in an Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year prison sentence for “extremism.” The numerous lawsuits brought against him were widely condemned as a way to punish him for his opposition to Vladimir Putin.

Having already been present at the burial of the coffin on Friday, the opponent’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, again early on Saturday morning went to his grave, strewn with flowers and wreaths, at the Borissovsky cemetery, south of Moscow. She was accompanied by Alla Abrosimova, mother of Alexei Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya.

Yulia Navalnaya, as well as the couple’s two children and Alexei Navalny’s brother, live abroad and did not attend the funeral, where they could have been arrested for opposing the Kremlin. The widow of Alexei Navalny has promised to continue her husband’s work and has repeatedly stated in recent days that Vladimir Putin “killed” him.

On Saturday morning, several mourners laid flowers on his opponent’s grave, and there was a constant police presence at the cemetery on the banks of the Moscow River. On Friday, thousands of supporters of Alexei Navalny stood in line for hours to pay tribute to him, many with tears in their eyes and voices trembling.

As they walked from the nearby church to the cemetery, some chanted “No to war!” ” and other slogans in favor of Navalny, including calling Putin a “murderer” and calls for the “release of political prisoners.”

Human rights organization OVD-Info said Russian police on Friday arrested at least 128 people participating in tributes to Navalny in 19 cities.

Scenes of thousands of people marching in support of Alexei Navalny, demanding an end to the Russian attack on Ukraine and criticizing the Kremlin have not been seen in Russia since the first days after Moscow ordered hundreds of thousands of soldiers to cross the border. at the end of February 2022

The Kremlin has since cracked down on dissent and used tough new military censorship laws to persecute hundreds of people who publicly opposed the offensive. These total repressions, in addition to partial mobilization in the fall of 2022, also pushed a number of Russians to travel abroad.