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Yulia Navalnaya: Putin took my husband’s body hostage

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Alexei Navalny
Yulia Navalnaya: Putin took my husband’s body hostage

Navalny’s widow Julija Navalnaya wants to succeed her husband

© Uncredited/ / Picture Alliance

The wife of the late Kremlin critic accuses President Vladimir Putin of “open Satanism.” Russian authorities continue to deny Alexei Navalny’s mother access to his body.

The widow of the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of taking the body of her husband, who died in custody, as a “hostage.” Putin wanted to “force Navalny’s mother Lyudmila to agree to a secret funeral,” Yulia Navalnaya said in an online video on Saturday. Putin gave the orders that said: “Don’t hand him over, put pressure on the mother, break her, tell her that her son’s body has decomposed.”

“You tortured him while he was alive, now you are torturing him after his death,” Yulia Navalnaya added. Lyudmila Navalnaya has been trying to gain access to her son’s body for more than a week. According to Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Jarmisch, Russian investigators threatened to bury Navalny’s body on the grounds of the penal colony where he died if his family did not agree to a secret burial.

Yulia Navalnaya accuses Putin of “open Satanism”.

Putin, who describes himself as a devout Christian, mocks the remains of the dead man and displays “open satanism,” said widow Yulia Navalnaya. “Hand over Alexei. They tortured him alive and continue to torture him dead,” she said. “They break every human and divine law.”

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Although Putin poses in Russian Orthodox churches with a candle in his hand and kisses icons, he is actually driven by hatred and a desire for revenge, said Yulia Navalnaya. “No, it’s not even hate, it’s satanism, paganism.” But faith is about goodness, about mercy, about redemption. “And no true Christian could ever do what Putin is doing now with dead Alexei.”

Alexei Navalny’s funeral could cause a stir

According to observers, the Kremlin fears that a funeral could become a public event. Presidential elections are scheduled for mid-March in Russia. Putin’s renewed election victory is already almost certain, as he has no serious competition.

Lyudmila Navalnaya, the mother of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny

Mother wants to bury him
The desperate search for Navalny’s body

The death of Navalny, who had been imprisoned in Russia for years, became known on Friday last week. He died in a penal camp in the Arctic Circle at the age of 47. His death caused international consternation. Numerous Western politicians as well as Navalny’s widow blamed the Russian leadership and President Putin for his death. Moscow rejected the allegations.