Alexei Navalny's team has accused authorities of trying
to prevent him from having a dignified public burial since the Kremlin critic's
death in prison almost two weeks ago.
'What a disgrace,' said Ivan Zhdanov, an exiled ally who
managed Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation.
'Now the hearse drivers refuse to take Alexei from the
morgue.'
Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said funeral directors
had received threatening calls from 'unknown people' warning them not to
transport Navalny's body anywhere, and that no one had agreed to transport his
body as a result.
Zhdanov said Navalny's team would cope and find a solution
anyway.
Navalny died two weeks ago on February 16 in one
of Russia's toughest prisons in northern Siberia, known as 'Polar Wolf'.
There, he was serving a 19-year sentence on charges widely
seen as political retribution for his staunch opposition to the Vladimir Putin
regime.
Authorities resisted handing the politician's body to his
family for eight days, in what his team said was an attempt to 'cover-up'
official involvement in his death.
Russian authorities said Navalny died of 'natural causes'
but his team and some Western leaders have accused Putin of being directly
responsible.
Navalny's body was eventually released to his mother, but
the Kremlin critic's allies have since accused Russian authorities
of blocking a civil memorial service that they wanted to hold for
him to avoid potential protests or dissent against Putin.
The Kremlin has said it has nothing to do with such
arrangements.
The late dissident's allies announced on Wednesday that he
is due to be buried in the Russian capital on Friday after a church service in
the southeastern suburb where he used to live. Navalny's allies have promised
to livestream his funeral service online.
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