Yulia Navalnaya demands authorities release husband's body, calls Putin's faith 'fake'

(Reuters) – Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, made a public plea on Saturday for Russian authorities to release his body for burial. She accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “torturing” his corpse in a six-minute video posted on YouTube.

In the video, Navalnaya claimed that Putin was holding her husband’s body “hostage” and criticized his actions as “demonic”. She also questioned Putin’s Christian faith, which he often professes.

Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila, revealed on Friday that Russian investigators were refusing to release his body from a morgue in Salekhard until she agreed to a private burial. An official reportedly told her that Navalny’s body was decomposing and urged her to agree to their terms.

According to Navalny’s aides, authorities threatened to bury him in the remote prison colony where he died unless his family agreed to bury him privately.

Yulia Navalnaya, visibly emotional in the video, blamed Putin personally for the situation regarding Navalny’s body. She accused him of “torturing” Navalny even in death, echoing the treatment he faced while alive.

“We already knew that Putin’s faith was fake. But now we see it more clearly than ever before,” Navalnaya said while dressed in black. She expressed disbelief that a true Christian could treat a deceased person in such a manner.

Since his return to the Russian presidency in 2012, Vladimir Putin has presented himself as a defender of traditional values and a close ally of the Orthodox Church. He has often emphasized his faith and participation in religious activities.

Navalnaya highlighted her husband’s devout Christian beliefs, noting his attendance at church and observance of Lent even during his time in prison. She stated that his political activism was driven by Christian values.

In closing her video, Navalnaya appealed to authorities to return her husband’s body so that they could hold a proper funeral and bury him according to Orthodox Christian customs.

(Reporting by Felix Light; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)