As of: February 22, 2024, 1:44 p.m
By: Nail Akkoyun
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In a call, Russian Orthodox believers are calling for Navalny's body to be returned.
They remind Putin of his Christian duties.
Moscow – Hundreds of Russian Orthodox clerics and laypeople have called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release the body of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who died in a prison camp.
They emphasized: “We call on you to hand over the body of Alexei Navalny to his family so that his mother, other family members and like-minded people can say goodbye to him and give him a Christian burial.”
The appeal, which was also distributed by the opposition team on Thursday (February 21), contains around 800 names.
The Russian Orthodox believers reminded Putin, who often appears in churches with a candle in his hand, of Christian rules and the right of relatives to a funeral.
They emphasized that according to Orthodox custom, religious people should be buried on the third day after their death.
They made it clear: “This is not only their wish and their right, but also their duty towards God and the deceased.”
They recalled that “Alexei Navalny was not only an opposition politician, he was also a believer.”
They warned against compounding the tragedy of death by refusing a simple human request.
They warned: “Remember that everyone is equal before God.” They warned of the danger that social tensions could further increase through hard-heartedness and inhumanity.
They appealed: “Show mercy and compassion for his mother, his wife, his children and his relatives.”
French Ambassador to Russia Pierre Levy lays flowers for the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at the Solovetsky Stone in Moscow on February 19, 2024.
© Alexander Nemenov/AFP
Navalny's mother already addressed Putin: "Finally let me see my son"
The Russian state is currently keeping Navalny's body under lock and key.
Lyudmila Navalnaya, the 47-year-old's mother, had also previously addressed the Russian president in a video and asked to be allowed to bury her son.
In front of the barbed wire of the Siberian prison camp, she made an emotional appeal to President Putin to release her son's body.
She said: “I turn to you, Vladimir Putin.
The decision of the question depends only on you.
“Let me finally see my son.”
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Alexei Navalny died last Friday (February 16) in the penal camp unofficially named “Arctic Wolf” in the Siberian Arctic region of Yamal, authorities said.
The politician, weakened by a poison attack in 2020 and repeated solitary confinement in the camp, is said to have collapsed in the icy prison yard and died despite attempts to resuscitate him.
The cause of death is unclear.
Navalny's team accuses the Kremlin of murder, and international politicians accuse the Kremlin of a cover-up or even a targeted killing.
Moscow rejects these allegations.
(nak/dpa)
Editor Nail Akkoyun wrote this article and then used an AI language model to optimize it at his own discretion. All information has been carefully checked. Find out more about our AI principles here.