Navalny to be buried Friday in Moscow; venues refuse to hold memorial event

A woman touches a photo of Alexei Navalny after laying flowers paying the last respect to him at the Memorial to Victims of Political Repression in St. Petersburg, Russia on Feb. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
A woman touches a photo of Alexei Navalny after laying flowers paying the last respect to him at the Memorial to Victims of Political Repression in St. Petersburg, Russia on Feb. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s funeral service and burial will take place in Moscow on Friday, his spokesperson says, after a search for a hall to allow his supporters to bid farewell to him failed.

Kira Yarmysh, his spokesperson, posts on X that a service for Navalny would be held on Friday at 1400 Moscow time (1100 GMT) in the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God in the Moscow district of Maryino. She tells people to get there early.

Navalny would then be buried at the Borisovskoye cemetery, she says.

Navalny, 47, died at an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16. His allies have accused President Vladimir Putin of having him murdered because the Russian leader could allegedly not tolerate the thought of Navalny being freed in a potential prisoner swap.

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