Navalny: Hundreds line up in Moscow to visit the grave of Putin critic

CNN
—

Hundreds of people flocked to the grave of the late Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny.

Photos released by OVD-Info, an independent Russian human rights group that monitors Russian repression, show a long line of people lining up at Navalny's grave and laying flowers at Borisovsky Cemetery in Moscow.

“People are leaving flowers, saying goodbye, and grieving,” the group stated.

Reuters reported that Navalny's mother, Lyudmila, was among the mourners on Sunday, and visited her son's grave for the second day, accompanied by his widow's mother, Yulia.

Thousands of mourners defied threats of arrest and gathered to do so Navalny's funeral is on Fridaytwo weeks after his death at the age of 47 in an Arctic penal colony.

There were tight security measures, and some in the crowd chanted his name or anti-Putin slogans.

The opposition leader's death sparked condemnation from world leaders and accusations from his aides that he had been murdered, although the Kremlin denied any involvement in his death.

OVD-Info reported on Sunday that at least 103 people were arrested in 20 Russian cities on the day of Navalny's funeral. Riot police were present, searching mourners, photographing them, and forcing them to pass through metal detectors, according to the group.

“Some of those who came said they hid flowers under their coats along the road, for fear of arrests along the way,” they said. “That didn't stop people from coming in and saying goodbye.”

Navalny returned to Russia in 2021, after spending months in Germany recovering from the Novichok poisoning that a Bellingcat and CNN investigation found was carried out by Russian intelligence.

He was arrested upon arrival and spent the rest of his life behind bars on charges he denied as politically motivated.