The security zone, installed in the fenced enclosure of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God, a few steps from the religious building, is far from being large enough to contain all the supporters who came to say goodbye to Alexei Navalny.
Thousands of people huddle together, further away, well supervised by the police present in large numbers.
Thousands of people are outside the religious building.
AFP/Alexander NEMENOV AFP or licensors
Nothing discouraged them: neither the two low mercury degrees in Moscow, nor the security gates that must be passed to enter the zone, nor the risk of arrest.
The French, German and American ambassadors also made the trip, as well as three opposition figures still at large: Evgeni Roïzman, Boris Nadejdine and Ekaterina Dountsova.
The representative of Italian diplomacy in Moscow was also expected.
Pierre Levy, the French ambassador to Russia.
STRINGER/AFP AFP or licensors
Open coffin for loved ones
According to the Orthodox rite, the body of Alexeï Navalny was exposed in an open coffin for his loved ones, including his mother, Lyudmila, before being buried at the nearby Borissovo cemetery, two hours later.
Outside, the crowd chants his name tirelessly.
“Navalny!”
Navalny!
Navalny!
»
The crowd chants Navalny's name as the hearse passes.
REUTERS/Stringer
Upon leaving the religious building, shortly before 3 p.m. in Moscow (i.e. 1 p.m. in Paris), the funeral convoy was applauded for several minutes as it passed down the aisle, flanked on one side by supporters who came by the thousands. , on the other by the police.
The burial must take place at 4 p.m. (2 p.m. in France) at the Borisov cemetery, about thirty minutes away on foot.
Here again, nothing is left to chance and the marching crowd is well supervised by the mounted police.
Also read Death of Alexeï Navalny: “Putin killed the best of us”
“We no longer have politicians like that and no one knows when we will have them again”, regrets to AFP Maria, 55, a librarian, saying she feels both “fear and sadness” .
Alexeï Navalny “showed freedom”, notes Maxime, a 43-year-old computer scientist also requesting anonymity.
VIDEO.
Russia: opponent Kara-Mourza calls not to “despair” after Navalny’s death
Critic of the Kremlin and charismatic anti-corruption activist, Alexeï Navalny died on February 16 at the age of 47 in a Russian penal colony in the Arctic in circumstances which remain obscure.
His collaborators, his widow Yulia Navalnaïa and the West have accused Vladimir Putin of being responsible for his death, which the Kremlin denies.
After delaying handing over the opponent's remains to his relatives, the Russian authorities finally did so last weekend, allowing a funeral.