Thousands of mourners gathered in Moscow on Friday for the funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, despite an ominous warning from the Kremlin that anyone participating in unsanctioned gatherings could face arrest.
Thousands of mourners gathered in Moscow on Friday for the funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, despite an ominous warning from the Kremlin that anyone participating in unsanctioned gatherings could face arrest.
Crowds of people, many clutching red carnations, gathered amid a heavy police presence to pay their respects to the Kremlin foe, with some chanting “Putin is a killer” and “you weren’t afraid, we aren’t afraid.”
More than 400 people have been detained in dozens of cities across Russia for participating in memorials in the two weeks since Navalny’s sudden and still unexplained death in a Russian penal colony in the Arctic Circle, according to OVD-Info, which monitors politically motivated arrests in Russia. At least 115 people were detained on Friday, according to the group.
Navalny, who was 47 years old, was buried in Borisovo cemetery in his childhood neighborhood in southeast Moscow. The casket of the Putin critic, who was known for his irreverent sense of humor, was lowered into the ground to Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” followed by the theme tune from his favorite film, Terminator 2.
Navalny’s sudden death has fueled concerns about the well-being of hundreds of other prisoners in Russia.
“If they could kill Navalny, they could kill anybody else,” said Grigory Vaypan, a senior lawyer at Memorial, Russia’s oldest human rights........