Navalny is given the last farewell/ At the funeral ceremony, thousands of people

2024-03-01 16:58:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Thousands of people with flowers in their hands, surrounded by security forces, bid a final farewell to Kremlin critic Aleksey Navalny, who was buried on Friday at Borisovskoye cemetery in Moscow.

There are reports that when his body was buried, the song "My Way" by Frank Sinatra was heard.

Before the burial, in the "Icon of the Mother and God" Church, a memorial ceremony was held, in which his parents also participated.

Anatoliy and Lyudmila's parents have not made any public comments.

Navalny is given the last farewell/ At the funeral ceremony, thousands of people

There were people who approached the parents saying "thank you for your son" and "forgive us". Some people were heard shouting outside the church, "executioners", "Russia will be free", "no war".

The ceremony was held at the church in Marjino County, where Navalny lived for a time, according to his former spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh.

Foreign diplomats, including the ambassadors of the United States, Germany, France, have gone to the church to honor Navlany. They are seen dressed in black and holding roses. There are many metal fences on the road to the church. At least 40 police cars were parked near the church on the morning of March 1.

Navalny is given the last farewell/ At the funeral ceremony, thousands of people

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov issued a warning through reporters that any illegal organization would be considered a violation of the law, a threat that police would quickly intervene if they had to deal with crowds. He has said that the Kremlin does not consider Navalny as a politician and has nothing to say about Navalny's family.

Hundreds of Russians have been arrested just for sending flowers around the city to commemorate Navalny. Ivan Pavlov, a well-known Russian human rights lawyer who has left the country, has said that the Russian authorities will consider the funeral an "undesirable mass organization" and will try to limit the number of participants as much as possible.

Navalny's body was handed over to his mother, Lyudmila, on February 24, more than a week after he died of "natural causes" in a prison in Russia's Arctic region. Navalny's widow, Yulia, has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is responsible for her husband's death./ CNA