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Attorneys for Alexei Navalny's mother have requested that a criminal case be launched against local investigators for failing to release the opposition politician’s body to his family.
A formal statement requesting the investigation has been submitted to the head of the department of the Investigative Committee in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
A copy of the statement was released by the head of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), Ivan Zhdanov.
It is proposed that the case be opened under Article 244 of the Criminal Code (“Desecration of the bodies of the dead and of the places where they are buried”), which concerns abuse of corpse.
“According to Orthodox canons, it is customary to bury the body of the deceased on the third day. As of today, eight days have passed since Navalny's death, but so far the body has not been buried,” the statement said.
Several hours ago, Lyudmila Navalnaya was threatened by the same Investigators, who gave her three hours to decide on a secret funeral without a public memorial service, according to Navalny's spokesperson Kira Yarmysh.
If she doesn't agree, Navalny's body may be buried at the IK-3 penal colony.
Lyudmila Navalnaya was issued a similar threat yesterday. In a video appeal, she said officers from Russia's Investigative Committee threatened to bury Alexei in secret and then take her to his grave.
“[The] investigator Varapayev openly told me: ‘Time’s not on your side, the bodies are decomposing’” Navalnaya quoted one of the officers as saying.
The Insider identified the officer that made the threat as Alexander Vladimirovich Varapayev — a convicted criminal.