The body of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died suddenly in prison last week, has been handed over to his mother, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh announced today on social media platform X, according to the BBC.
The announcement came after she was told to agree to a "secret" burial, otherwise he would be buried in the prison colony where he died.
Yarmysh said she did not yet know if the authorities would allow the funeral to be held as the family wanted and as Alexei deserved.
Meanwhile, earlier on Saturday, Yulia Navalya, the widow of the leader of the Russian opposition, counterattacked and in a video posted on social networks, accused Vladimir Putin of Satanism.
Julia says that her faith in religion does not allow her to imagine that she cannot mourn her husband without his body, and at the same time criticizes the Russian authorities for their failure to deliver Navalny's remains to his family nine days after his death.
"Putin, who describes himself as a devout Christian, mocks the remains of the dead and demonstrates that he is a Satanist. Hand over Alexei to us. You tortured him alive and continue to torture him dead. You are breaking every law, whether human or divine," said Yulia.
Navalny's daughter, Darya, also sent her message to the Kremlin stronghold by choosing platform X. "Give my grandmother the body of my father," wrote the daughter of the late Russian opposition leader.
The Kremlin has denied the accusations, calling Western reactions to Alexei's death "hysterical".
Navalny died on February 16 in a Russian prison inside the Arctic Circle.