Farewell ceremony for Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny starts in Moscow

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) — The farewell ceremony for Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, who died on Feb.16, began Friday in Moscow.

Hundreds gathered near the Assuage My Sorrows cathedral in Moscow to pay their final tribute to the politician.

The event began with a religious ceremony as Navalny's mother, Lyudmila, and some of his supporters took part.

Navalny was brought to the church in a closed coffin and will be transported later to the Moscow Borisov cemetery.

Moscow says the jailed 47-year-old suddenly felt unwell after a walk in prison, where he was serving a sentence for extremist activities. He was promptly taken to a hospital, but doctors were unable to save his life.

His official cause of death remains unannounced.

Navalny was arrested in January 2021 after a hospital stay in Germany, where he was being treated for poisoning. Western countries and Navalny himself blamed Russia for the poisoning, a claim the Kremlin denies.

In August, he was handed a 19-year prison sentence on charges of extremism and other crimes. He was already serving a sentence of more than 11 years on fraud charges.