 "Alexei Navalny's funeral: Family struggles to find hearse agree to take his body")
Two weeks after his death in an Arctic prison, Russian opposition leader and staunch Putin critic, Alexei Navalny will be buried on Friday at the Borisovskoye Cemetery.
As Navalny’s team is organising his funeral ceremony, it is unable to find a hearse to drive the body to church.
Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said, “Unknown people are calling mortuaries and threatening them if they accept to take Alexei’s body.”
Yarmysh said she had been told that “no hearse agrees to take the body there.”
Navalny’s funeral service will be streamed online on his YouTube channel. Memorial service will be held at Church of the Icon of Our Lady Quench My Sorrows, in Maryino.
Sad Adieu
Navalny’s team had initially planned a public farewell and funeral for the late Russian opposition leader for Thursday, but they were told that there were “no available cemetery workers who can dig a grave,” Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, said.
Many venues claimed they were busy, or refused the booking once Navalny’s name was mentioned. One of the venues explicitly said they were forbidden from working with Navalny’s team, Yarmysh said.
It is also unclear how many people will attend Navalny’s funeral on Friday.
Also Read: Alexei Navalny to be buried in Moscow amid uncertainty, tight security
Navalny’s team has shared a map of the route for the leader’s farewell and have encouraged people to attend. Meanwhile, they are also worried that problems might arise with the church where the service is being held.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsNavalny died unexpectedly at the age of 47 on February 16. The news of his demise was met with grief and anger across the world as well as inside Russia. His wife, Yulia Navalnaya, has blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for her husband’s death.
Navalny’s team too accused Putin of ordering his assassination because the Russian leader could not bear the prospect of Navalny being released in a prisoner swap.
Also Read: How Russian church hosting Navalny's funeral is deeply rooted in war he opposed
“Putin killed my husband,” Yulia said during a speech at the European Parliament on Wednesday. “On his orders, Alexei was tortured for three years,” she added.
“He was starved in a tiny stone cell, cut off from the outside world and denied visits, phone calls. And then even letters. And then they killed him. Even after that, they abused his body,” Yulia said, as Navalny’s team alleges the body was held in order to pressure the family into agreeing to hold a private funeral.
With inputs from agencies
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