Where is Navalny's Body?

Navalny is being remembered for his activism

People are mourning the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny around the world. Those in Russia are gathering and laying flowers but face the risk of being arrested. The 47-year-old who died in a penal colony in the Arctic circle will not be forgotten.

However, his body cannot be found, nor the cause of death.

His mother Lyudmila Navalnaya, together with members of Navalny's team made the trek to the town of Kharp, 1,900 kilometres northeast of Moscow where he died, but his body was not in the prison.

Lyudmila is escorted by Navalny's lawyer

They were told to go to the morgue in a nearby city of Salekhard, about over an hour's drive from Kharp.

But alas the morgue was closed. Navalny's lawyer called the morgue and was told his body was not there either.

She then went to Salekhard's Investigative Committee office, where she was told the exact cause of her son's death was not clear, and Lyudmila could not receive the body until an examination was completed.

"It is obvious that they are lying and doing everything they can to avoid handing over the body," said Kira Yarmysh, Navalny's spokesperson. She added Navalny's team "demand that Alexei Navalny's body be handed over to his family immediately."

It feels eerie similar to what happened to Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo after he died in 2017 of liver cancer. A funeral was hastily arranged with his wife and family in attendance though they were heavily surveilled. Then his body was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea, apparently by the family's request.

Will Navalny's body turn up eventually? A grieving mother should not have to look for her son...