Alexey Navalny's mother was shown her son's body and demanded secret burial

She said investigators were “blackmailing” her over the funeral of the Kremlin critic, who died in detention last week, and trying to force her to hold a private burial ceremony without mourners.

“They want this to be done secretly, with no farewell. They want to bring me to the edge of a cemetery, to a fresh grave and say: ‘Here lies your son.’ I don’t agree to this,” she said.

There was no immediate comment from Russian authorities.

Navalnaya said she had been taken to the morgue and shown Navalny’s body on Wednesday evening. On Tuesday, she made an appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Let me finally see my son,” she said, urging authorities to release his body so she could bury him.

Navalny’s team said the death certificate, also seen by Navalnaya on Wednesday, stated that he had died of natural causes.

Navalny, Russia’s best-known opposition politician, died suddenly in an Arctic penal colony last Friday at the age of 47. His aides and family have alleged that the Kremlin murdered him, an allegation Russia has rejected.