Alexei Navalny’s mother pleads for the release of his body so she can bury him ‘in a humane way’ – after relatives were told ‘chemical examinations’ would take two weeks

Alexei Navalny’s mother has called on Vladimir Putin to release her son’s body “immediately” after authorities told her she would not be able to see it for a fortnight.

Lyudmila, who fought to get her son’s body back, said in a video statement five days after her son’s death: “I appeal to you, Vladimir Putin, the solution to the issue depends only on you.” Finally let me see my son. “I demand that Alexei’s body be released immediately so that I can bury him humanely.”

Navalny, 47, fell unconscious and died suddenly on Friday after walking through the ‘Polar Wolf’ penal colony above the Arctic Circle, where he was serving a three-decade prison sentence, the prison service said.

The West and Navalny’s supporters say Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. The Kremlin has denied involvement and said Western claims that Putin was responsible were unacceptable.

Putin has not publicly commented on Navalny’s death, but it has deepened the yawning schism in relations between Moscow and the West caused by the nearly two-year war in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin is accused of orchestrating the death of Alexei Navalny

But just days after the dissident’s death, he handed out major promotions to prison chiefs, a move that was denounced because he rewarded them for his death.

The main promotion went to the First Deputy Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) Valery Boyarinev, 53, who was promoted to the rank of colonel general.

Human rights group gulagu.net – which highlights prison abuse and is led by exiled Vladimir Osechkin – claimed he is the “curator of torture transporters and special measures against Alexei Navalny and thousands of Ukrainian prisoners.”

The group said: “Since July 2022, this experienced sadist… holds the position of First Deputy and oversees all operational work of the 21st century Gulag.

“The Lubyanka (FSB security service) has been promoting this executive executioner for a long time.

‘And now dictator Putin – because of the murder of Alexei Navalny – has awarded him the rank of colonel general.’

The accusations continued: “Boyarinev fulfilled Putin’s wish: the physical elimination of his main political opponent.”

People gathered to lay flowers and paid their last respects to Alexei Navalny at the monument, a large boulder from the Solovetsky Islands, where the first camp of the Gulag political prison system was located, in Saint Petersburg

Reports of Navalny’s death emerged on Friday

More than 400 Russians were arrested as they paid their respects to the dead dissident

Russian investigators will not hand over the body of dead Russian opposition leader Alexi Navalny for a fortnight, his team has revealed

And it was “under Boyarinev’s watch (that) hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners were tortured, forcing many to confess to genocide and executions of civilians to justify the war.”

Boyarinev previously limited the amount of food Navalny could get in prison, it was claimed.

Following Boyarinev’s promotion, signed in a Putin decree three days after officials said Navalny died, he is likely to become the next director of the sprawling prison known for torturing inmates.

Other senior prison officials were promoted in the days after Navalny’s death, for which no official cause has been revealed.

Alexander Rozin, 41, another deputy director of Russia’s prison system, will become a lieutenant general.

Two others were promoted to major general, head of the FSIN affairs department Dmitry Sharovatov, and the head of the FSIN personnel department Alexander Fedorov.

Yesterday, Russian investigators said they would not hand over Navalny’s body for at least a fortnight, his team revealed, after his widow Yulia claimed he had been poisoned with Novichok.

His widow Yulia Navalnya (photo) claimed that he was poisoned with Novichok

Tributes to the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in front of a monument with a work by the late Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, in Seoul

The British ambassador to the Russian Federation stands up after laying flowers to pay his last respects to Alexei Navalny

Navalny spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said the Investigative Committee, the country’s top criminal investigative agency, informed Lyudmila Navalnaya that the official investigation into the death has been extended.

“They lie, buy time for themselves and don’t even hide it,” Yarmysh wrote on X.

Yulia Navalnaya accused Russian authorities of hiding Navalny’s body while waiting for traces of the nerve agent to disappear.

Just hours after publishing her own video statement, she met with European leaders in Brussels, vowing to pick up where Alexei left off and directly blaming Putin for her husband’s death.

European diplomats said she reiterated her determination to continue the fight and called on the bloc to do more to target Putin’s inner circle – drawing a standing ovation from the audience.

She also warned against making deals with the Russian leader or hoping he would change, they said.