“They ban anything that deviates from the main propaganda agenda. In times of war, the state tries to create the illusion of unity, the unification of the entire nation around the idea of war, around Putin, around traditional values,” human rights activist Sergej Davidis commented to Rádio Svoboda. “And the grief for the main opponent, the main enemy of the Putin regime, the most influential opponent killed by this regime, that is completely outside the image that they want to present to the Russians and to the world.”
Family and friends are having trouble organizing a funeral at all. They couldn’t find a place on the originally intended date, so they postponed it by a day – to Friday, March 1. “At first, we weren’t allowed to rent a funeral hall to say goodbye to Alexei. Now that the funeral is to be held at the church, the funeral home has informed us that no hearse will take the body there. Unknown people are calling all the crews and threatening them not to take Alexei’s body anywhere.” she tweeted Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Jarmyšová.
Radio Svoboda compares the situation to the death of former prominent opposition figure Boris Němcov. His killers, who killed him on February 27, 2015 on a bridge within sight of the Kremlin, have not yet been found. The commemorative marches turned into political protests, in which Alexei Navalny played a prominent role.
The events were repeated every year, until in 2021 the marches were banned due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Covid measures are already in place, but the memories of Němcov have not been allowed.
Paradoxically, Alexey Navalny will be remembered by his supporters during the presidential election on the weekend of March 15-17. As Rádio Svobodná Evropa/Rádio Svoboda recalled, two weeks before his death, he called on dissatisfied citizens from behind bars to go vote – at noon. The onslaught on the polling stations is supposed to be a way to express your dissatisfaction with the political situation in a completely legal way. At the same time, “noon against Putin” will become “noon for Navalny”. There is no need to say anything, carry banners – just use your civil right to go to the polls.
“It adds another element to the equation,” Maxim Reznik, a politician and Navalny ally who came up with the idea of the anti-Putin lunch, told Radio Svoboda. “Farewell to Alexei the man cannot be separated from farewell to Alexei Navalny the politician, for him politics was the meaning of life.”
“I advise people who contact our OVD-Info hotline that it is more dangerous to go out with Navalny’s symbols, which were officially recognized by the court as extremist, than, for example, with a portrait of Alexey himself or with some slogans, even if it would have an anti-war content, because it will only result in administrative penalties. But of course both carry risks,” lawyer Marija Čaščilovová told Rádio Svoboda.
A certain Christian woman in the Orthodox church also had a problem when she came with a prayer (sorokust) “for God’s servant Alexey”, as she described the hotline. “No details were given, but someone in the church joked that the sorokoust could be for Navalny, and she was accused. People are intimidated, they are afraid of the consequences, they are afraid of everything,” said Čaščilovová.
From a legal point of view, Russian law does not allow to ban mourning for Navalny. “But we have not lived in a state of law for a long time, so it is simply impossible to say that any legal entity or individual is guaranteed the protection of the law,” concludes the lawyer.
