Public Figures Urge Russia To Release Navalny's Body To His Family

A group of leading Russian public figures has urged the authorities to immediately release the body of outspoken Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny to his family after he died in prison a week ago.

Navalny's associates published video statements on their Komanda Navalnogo (Navalny's Team) Telegram channel on February 23 that show celebrities, musicians, actors, writers, and scholars all demanding Navalny's body be handed to his family, which has been told it may not be until the end of the month or later before it is released.

The group includes 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov; prominent ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov; a founding member of Pussy Riot protest group, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova; writers Mikhail Zygar and Viktor Shenderovich; historian Tamara Eidelman; television journalist Tatyana Lazareva; popular rock musician Andrei Makarevich; rapper Noize MC (Ivan Alekseyev); businessman Yevgeny Chichvarkin; and many other noted public figures.

A day earlier, Navalny's mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, said that investigators had allowed her to see her son's body late on February 21 in the Arctic city of Salekhard, but refused to hand it over for burial.

Navalnaya said she signed the death certificate, pointing out that the authorities were breaking the law by not releasing her son's body.

She also accused them of trying to force her to agree to bury her son secretly. She said she wanted her son's burial to be public so that all his supporters can bid a proper farewell to the anti-corruption crusader.

Navalnaya has been trying to get access to her son’s body since his death in a special-regime prison, the harshest type of penitentiary in Russia, was announced on February 16. Prison officials said the 47-year-old died after he collapsed while on a daily walk out of his cell.

On February 21, Navalnaya filed a lawsuit in a Russian court demanding the release of her son's body. A closed-door hearing into complaint is scheduled to be held on March 4, which roughly coincides with the time frame authorities have said they need to perform "chemical forensics" on Navalny's body.

Rights groups and Navalny's associates have accused authorities of holding the body to allow it to hide the cause of death.

WATCH: A Russian doctor who was involved in efforts to diagnose Aleksei Navalny after he was poisoned in 2020 says traces of poison can be removed from a dead body, and there was no reason for the Russian authorities not to hand over the body.

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Former Navalny Doctor Says Poison Could Be Removed From Body

The White House said on February 22 that U.S. President Joe Biden met with Navalny's widow and daughter, Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya, in California "to express his heartfelt condolences."

Dasha Navalnaya is currently studying at Stanford University just outside of San Francisco.

During the meeting, Biden expressed his admiration for Navalny's "extraordinary courage and his legacy of fighting against corruption and for a free and democratic Russia in which the rule of law applies equally to everyone," the statement said.

Biden later announced major new sanctions against Russia in response to Navalny's death, Russia's repression, and aggression and its war in Ukraine.