Navalny's Body Returned to His Mother

Facts

• A spokesperson for the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny announced on Saturday that authorities have given his body to his mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, more than a week after his sudden death in prison, adding that information regarding the funeral will be released when available.¹
• This comes following a days-long social media campaign for the Kremlin to release the body amid claims that officials in the northern city of Salekhard had threatened to bury Navalny on prison grounds if his family didn't assent to a secret funeral.²
• According to a video that his mother posted online, she was allowed to see his body in the morgue and signed his medical death certificate — which stated he died of natural causes — on Wednesday. On Friday, however, Lyudmila reportedly received a three-hour ultimatum to agree to a private burial.³
• Before the release of the body, Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya published a six-minute video on YouTube in which she vowed to continue his fight against Russia's Vladimir Putin, calling him 'demonic' and accusing him of torturing the corpse of a political opponent.⁴
• Russian authorities claim that Navalny died of natural causes on Feb. 16 in the Arctic 'Polar Wolf' prison colony, where he was serving a 19-year sentence, after losing consciouness following a walk in the facility located in the Yamalo-Nenets region.⁵
• Meanwhile, officials allegedly involved in Navalny's imprisonment have been targeted in the latest batch of sanctions by the Biden administration against Moscow over the death of the opposition leader and its war in Ukraine.⁶

Sources: ¹Novaya Gazeta Europe, ²New York Times, ³CNN, ⁴Reuters, ⁵The Moscow Times and ⁶BBC News.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by The Telegraph. Thanks to the pressure exerted by thousands of people, authorities have finally handed the body of the most prominent Putin rival in decades to his loved ones — just a day before the traditional Orthodox prayers on the ninth day of death. Nevertheless, the Kremlin's continued refusal to permit an independent autopsy is a criminal attempt to get away with murder.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Global Research. It's no coincidence that the West has pointed fingers at the Kremlin — and Putin personally — over Navalny's tragic natural death, as its propaganda machine is now at full tilt to try to divert focus from defeats in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza. If Western countries did live up to what they preached, Julian Assange wouldn't be subject to torture for exposing the US' ruthless killings.

Predictions