Alexei Navalny’s mother wants President Putin to give her son’s body back.
She said in a video that she had been trying to find him for five days, but didn’t know where he was. He died on Friday at the colony.
Navalny’s wife Yulia asked the officials to let his family say goodbye to him.
The family has been told that they won’t be able to get his body for two weeks.
His mother was told that the substance is being tested by experts, a spokesperson for Navalny said.
Russian authorities haven’t confirmed where the body is and have stopped efforts to find it multiple times.
Yulia Navalnaya said that her husband’s body was being kept until the nerve agent Novichok poisoning was gone. Navalny didn’t die when someone tried to kill him with poison in 2020.
Dmitry Peskov, who speaks for the Kremlin, said the accusations are not true and rude. He also said he wouldn’t say more because Ms Navalnaya’s husband recently died.
Navalny’s mom asked President Putin for help outside the prison in Siberia where Navalny died on February 16th.
She says she hasn’t seen him for five days, they won’t give his body to her, and they won’t tell her where he is.
I need you, Vladimir Putin. It’s all up to you. I want to see my son now. I want Alexei’s body to be released right away so I can bury him properly.
Her daughter-in-law posted a strong message on X (formerly known as Twitter) that echoed her words.
She said she doesn’t care at all about what the murderer’s press secretary, Mr. Peskov, says about her words. She says Mr Putin killed her husband.
“She said to return Alexei’s body and allow him to be buried properly, and not to interfere with people saying their final goodbyes to him. ”
She made these comments after talking to the European Union and the Munich Security Conference. She also released a video on Monday where she promised to keep fighting for a “free Russia” like her husband did.
She told EU leaders not to accept Russia’s presidential elections on 16 March and to go after the people close to Mr. Putin who are still trying to avoid sanctions.
Navalny died in prison on Friday. The people in charge of the prison in Siberia where he was staying said he never woke up after he fell down during a walk.
Authorities later said that Navalny had experienced “sudden death syndrome”.
His mom and lawyer went to the faraway place as soon as they heard he died.
The prison mortuary and local authorities have repeatedly stopped people from finding the body.
On Monday, the government is still looking into Navalny’s death and hasn’t found out anything yet.
Later, Kira Yarmysh, who speaks for Navalny, said that the investigators told Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila, that they will not give back his body for two weeks. They want to do some tests on it first.
Navalny, a leader of the opposition in Russia for the past 10 years, was in prison for 19 years for charges that were thought to be politically driven.
Western leaders are saying that President Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. The EU and the US are thinking about imposing more punishments on Russia.
The UK Foreign Secretary, Lord Cameron, said he thinks Britain and other wealthy countries in the G7 will put new penalties on Russians connected to the death.