Hundreds queue in Moscow to visit grave of Putin critic Navalny

CNN
 — 

Hundreds of people have been flocking to the grave of late Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny.

Images from OVD-Info, an independent Russian human rights group that monitors Russian repression, show a long line of people queuing at Navalny’s grave and laying flowers at the Borisovsky Cemetery in Moscow.

“People leave flowers, say goodbye, mourn,” the group reported.

Navalny’s mother Lyudmila was among the mourners on Sunday, visiting her son’s grave for the second day, accompanied by the mother of his widow Yulia, Reuters reported.

Thousands of mourners defied threats of arrest and gathered for Navalny’s funeral on Friday, two weeks after he died aged 47 in an Arctic penal colony.

There was heavy security in place 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, though the Kremlin has denied any involvement in his death.

At least 103 people were detained across 20 Russian cities on the day of Navalny’s funeral, OVD-Info reported on Sunday. Riot police were present, searching and filming the mourners and making them go through metal detectors, according to the group.

“Some of those who came said that they hid flowers under their coats along the way, fearing arrests along the way,” they said. “That didn’t stop people from coming and saying goodbye.”

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

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