Alexei Navalny's press secretary announces that Navalny's body has been handed over to his mother

According to Kira Yarmish, press secretary of the Russian oppositionist, Alexei Navalny , Navalny's body was handed over to his mother.

"Alexei's body was handed over to his mother. Thanks to everyone who requested this with us. First Ludmila Ivanovna is in Salekhard. Funeral services are ahead. We don't know whether the authorities will prevent it from being carried out as the family wants and as Alexei deserves," Kira Yarmish wrote.

Russian oppositionist Alexei Navalny died in a penal institution on February 16 .

Alexei Navalny was arrested in 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was being treated for attempted murder by poison. A Russian oppositionist was sentenced to 19 years in a penal colony on charges of extremism. Navalny was initially serving his sentence in the Vladimir region, about 230 kilometers east of Moscow, but was transferred late last year to a "special regime" penal colony in the Yamal-Nenta Autonomous Okrug. Alexei Navalny was 47 years old.