Moscow, March 3, (dpa/GNA) – Mourners continued to pay their respects to Alexei Navalny at Moscow’s Borisovsky Cemetery on Sunday, two days after the Russian dissident was buried, as police looked on but did not intervene.
Mourners were permitted to lay flowers on the grave, a dpa journalist at the scene reported. Young people, the elderly and families with children laid flowers on the grave, which lies close to the cemetery’s entrance. Many were in tears and embraced each other.
“Heroes do not die. Thank you Alexei” was written on a cardboard poster at the grave. Among the wreaths there were also children’s toys. A Russian Orthodox cross with a photo of Navalny smiling stood out above the flowers.
Navalny’s mother and mother-in-law had visited the grave again on Saturday.
According to the authorities, Navalny died on February 16 in a prison camp in the Yamal region, 1,900 kilometres north-east of Moscow, at the age of 47. The circumstances of his death have not been clarified.
Following Friday’s funeral, Navalny’s team emphasized once again that the opposition, which had fled into exile abroad, would continue its fight against corruption and the power apparatus of President Vladimir Putin.
Navalny’s legacy will remain alive “as long as there are millions of people in Russia and the world who are not indifferent to this,” they said. “That’s why we must not give up.”
Navalny’s team thanked the mourners. The ovd.info civil rights website reported on Sunday that 105 people had been detained in 22 cities across the country, in relation to events marking Nalvany’s death. Around 20 were arrested in Novosibirsk alone.
GNA