SALEKHARD, Russia: Alexei Navalny’s mother has said she has been shown his body but is being pressured by Russian authorities to allow a “secret” burial.
Lyudmila Navalnaya said in a video speech that she was brought to the morgue, where she signed the death certificate.
The former opposition leader’s press secretary said a medical report submitted to Ms Navalnaya said he had died of natural causes.
Navalny’s widow said he was killed by Russian authorities.
Lyudmila Navalnaya said the law required officials to release her son’s body, but she was being “blackmailed” because they refused to do so. She claimed that the authorities set the conditions for her son’s burial, including the place, time and manner of his burial.
She said, “They want to take me to the edge of the cemetery to the new grave and say: Here lies your son.”
Ms Navalnaya traveled to the northern Russian town of Salechard after learning six days ago that her son had died in a nearby penal colony.
Having previously been denied access to her son’s body, she personally asked Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to allow her to bury him.
In a speech on Thursday, Lyudmila Navalnaya said she was being threatened by the authorities.
“Looking into my eyes, they say that if I don’t agree to a secret burial, they will do something with my son’s body.”
She said investigators told her, “Time is not on your side, the corpse is decomposing.”
Speaking in a video posted on her late son’s YouTube channel, Lyudmila Navalnaya ended her speech by demanding that his body be returned to her.
Russian authorities did not immediately respond.
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden met Navalny’s widow Yulia and his daughter Dasha Navalnaya in San Francisco.
President Putin’s critic died in a prison colony on February 16. Prison officials said he became ill after a “walk”.
But Yulia Navalnaya claimed he was killed on Mr Putin’s orders and vowed to continue his fight.
Events to commemorate his death have met with a harsh response from Russian authorities, with makeshift monuments cleared and hundreds arrested.
