The Kremlin has given Alexei Navalny's mother an ultimatum: either agree to a private funeral or be buried in the prison where he died.

He The Kremlin A gave this Friday Final warning To mom Alexey Navalny, Lyudmila NavalnayaIt must be decided whether this raises a demand for authority Skip the public funeral and celebrate in private Or, if not, skip it The body of Vladimir Putin's opponent was buried in the same prison where he died in the Arctic Circle.

“An hour ago, an investigator called Alexei's mother and gave her a letter Final warning. In one, three hours, he accepts a secret funeral without a public farewell or he will be buried in the Alexei Penal Colony,” commented the activist’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmish, adding that Navalnaya is determined to “obey the law”. forcing researchers Give the body Within two days from the moment the cause of death is ascertained”.

To that end, Yarmish continued, “According to the medical papers he signed, those two days expire tomorrow. That is why, despite the urgent proposal by Russian authorities, “he insists that the authorities should allow funerals and memorial services to be conducted according to customs.”

“They want me to do it secretly without a mourning ceremony,” said the mother.

It is the latest chapter in the fight to recover the remains of her son, Navalnaya's biggest opponent. Vladimir PutinImprisoned for years under inhumane treatment and conditions, he died surprisingly and mysteriously on February 16.

Immediately, his mother traveled to a prison in the city of Zharb, 2,000 kilometers from Moscow, and later confronted authorities to prevent Putin's handling of her son's death.

Navalnaya said a week after her departure the day before, investigators were finally allowed to view the body at a morgue in the city of Salekhort. He was also given a medical certificate, which confirmed the 47-year-old politician's death after a post-mortem examination. “due to natural causes”. This is consistent with a prison report last Friday, which indicated the inmate was “unwell after the walk” and that “necessary resuscitation procedures were performed, which yielded no results.”

However, instead of bringing peace of mind, this further angered his mother, who retook her claim to possession of the body. He filed a case in a local court against the authorities' refusal to hand over the remains to him. A reward of 50,000 euros Anyone who can provide “complete information” about what happened to Navalny.

Many analysts believe that all these actions by the Kremlin mean that Putin is considering the possibility of a public funeral for the activist. A serious threat to his authorityGiven High calling What can I have? On the same day that his death and subsequent events became known, thousands of people across the country and around the world took to the streets to demand an investigation into the events, target the president for what happened, and pay tribute to the politician. This led to massive arrests and crackdowns by authorities in an attempt to curtail the incident, ahead of the presidential election.

(With information from AP, Europa Press and Reuters)