There are 12 hours left before the funeral of Alexeï Navalny, the fiercest anti-Putin opponent who died on February 16 in the Siberian penal colony where he was serving his sentence for “fraud”. In Moscow, and particularly in the neighborhood where the funeral is to take place, the atmosphere is very heavy. “We can't even find a hearse to transport the body from the church to the cemetery,” the deceased dissident's spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, reported today. The funeral is planned for Friday March 1 at 2:00 p.m. – 12:00 p.m. in Italy – in the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God in Mar'ino, southeast of the capital. Then, about two hours later, his body is expected to be buried at the Borisovskoe cemetery. Navalny's mother fought with all her might in the weeks following his death to first see and then recover her son's body; then also to be able to celebrate her funeral: the authorities tried by all means to make her accept that they would take place in the greatest secrecy, but she always opposed it. But the Kremlin continues to put up all kinds of obstacles to the “success” of the final farewells. “Unknown people continue to call all the funeral directors and threaten them if they agree to transport Navalny’s body,” the spokesperson reported on the eve of the funeral.
What are the risks of those who go to funerals?
At the moment, we do not know who from Navalny's family – apart from his mother – will participate: the risks for his widow Yulya, who has been exposed a lot in recent days, and for his daughters would be enormous, and to our knowledge all three live abroad. We do not even know how many people will be able or willing to participate in the ceremony, given the explicit threats made by the authorities as well as the silence and denigration of the figure of Navalny imposed by the Kremlin through the media. . What is certain, reports the BBC, is that the police are preparing to carefully monitor what will happen, and perhaps something more. Images broadcast on social networks already today show an imposing police presence both in the Church district and in the cemetery district: the barriers are ready to be installed, according to the Telegram channel RusNews, security cameras have already been installed. “on every lamp post” around the cemetery. That's not all: after Yulia Navalnaya publicly expressed fears in the European Parliament about possible arrests at the funeral, the First Department – a group of lawyers and human rights defenders – warned against the possible entry into action of “agents provocateurs” in the form of pro-government activists. The group advocates maximum attention and suggests that those wishing to attend the funeral not use public transport or carry items bearing Navalny's face or the symbol of his Anti-Corruption Foundation.
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