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Crowds in Moscow shouted ‘Putin is a killer’ as they gathered for the funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Navalny’s supporters strongly believe the president is responsible for the 47-year-old’s death at a penal colony last month.
Today his coffin travelled in a hearse to the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God Soothe My Sorrows, in the Maryino district, where he has previously lived.
His coffin was carried inside while mourners applauded and called out ‘Navalny! Navalny!’ as large numbers of riot police watched on.
It’s reported several churches in the capital had refused to hold the service.
Hours before the funeral was set to start, hundreds waited to enter the church and Western diplomats were spotted in the long queue.
Authorities lined the road from a nearby subway station to the church with crowd-control barriers.
Mourners gather around Alexei Navalny’s open casket (Picture: AP/Getty Images)
As Navalny’s body set out on his last journey to his funeral, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: ‘The Kremlin has nothing to say to Navalny’s relatives on the day of his funeral.’
Navalny associate Leonid Volkov said Putin would one day answer in court for the death of the politician.
‘Peskov said that Putin has nothing to say to Alexei Navalny’s family,’ he said.
‘I want to dare to say that Alexei’s family doesn’t need a single word from Vladimir Putin.
People walk towards the Borisovskoye cemetery where Navalny was due to be buried (Picture: Reuters)
‘All the words we would need from Putin are those he’ll say before the judge.’
One mourner said: ‘I feel this is a funeral for the Russia that might have been.’
A woman said: ‘For us it was hope for a brighter future, not for North Korea.
‘This is the only thing we can do now is to pay tribute to the memory, keep it.
‘A person lives as long as we remember him. We need to remember why he got there. For us, for everyone. And of course continue, don’t give up, as he asked.’
Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, at the funeral (Picture: Reuters)
Flowers and tributes to the late opposition leader (Picture: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto/Shutte)
After the service, which was livestreamed on Youtube, Navalny was taken to be buried at Borisovskoye Cemetery, where police also showed up in force.
Navalny died at an Arctic penal colony in Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenets region on February 16. His cause of death has still not been explained by authorities.
His mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, spent eight days trying to get authorities to release the body.
They initially said they could not hand Navalny over because they needed to conduct post-mortem tests.
The hearse carrying Navalny (Picture: Reuters)
Mourners following the hearse after it left the church (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)
Ms Navalnaya, 69, who was seen at the funeral, made a video appeal calling for Putin to release the body so she could bury her son with dignity.
Once it was released, at least one funeral director said he had been ‘forbidden’ to work with Navalny’s supporters, the spokeswoman for Navalny’s team, Kira Yarmysh, said on social media. They also struggled to find a hearse for the funeral.
‘Unknown people are calling up people and threatening them not to take Alexei’s body anywhere,’ Ms Yarmysh said on Thursday.
Many Western leaders have blamed Putin for Navalny’s death, but the Kremlin denies it is responsible.
Navalny was a fierce foe of Putin, campaigning against official corruption and organising large protests against the current government.
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