Lyudmila Navalnaya says investigators are trying to establish conditions on where, when and how the prominent Kremlin critic should be buried.
Alexey Navalny's mother has said Russian authorities are pressuring her to bury the opposition leader's body “secretly.”
In a video message posted on YouTube on Thursday, Lyudmila Navalnaya said Russian authorities had allowed her to view her son's body in the morgue.
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 in secret, without goodbyes. They want to take me to the edge of a cemetery, to a fresh grave, and tell me: 'Here lies your son.' “I don’t agree with this,” he said.
There was no immediate comment from Russian authorities.
Navalnaya said she was taken to the morgue and shown Navalny's body on Wednesday night. On Tuesday she appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Let me finally see my son,” he said, urging authorities to release his body so he could be buried.
Navalny's team said the death certificate, also seen by Navalnaya on Wednesday, indicated 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 his family have claimed that the Kremlin murdered him, an accusation Russia has rejected.
“Investigators say they know the cause of death,” said Navalnaya, dressed in black and speaking in a calm voice in a video. “They have all the medical and legal documents ready, which I saw and signed the medical death certificate.
“According to the law, they should have handed over Alexey's body to me immediately, but they have not done so until now. Instead, they are blackmailing me, putting conditions on where, when and how Alexey must be buried. “This is illegal.”
Navalny’s mother said: “I am recording this video because they started threatening me. “Looking me in the eyes, they say that if I don't agree to a secret funeral, they will do something with my son's body.”
He quoted one of the researchers as saying: “Time is not on your side; The corpses decompose.”
“I don't want special conditions,” he said.
“I just want everything to be done according to the law. “I demand that my son’s body be returned to me immediately.”
'We can handle anything'
Earlier on Thursday, Navalny's widow, Yulia, posted a mourning photo with the couple's grieving daughter, Dasha.
“My sweet little girl. “I flew to you to hug you and support you, but you are sitting there supporting me,” wrote Yulia Navalnaya in a post published on Instagram.
“You are so strong, so brave and firm. We can do anything, my heart. It's good that you are by my side.”
Navalny has a 15-year-old son and Dasha, 23, who is studying in the United States. Dasha had repeatedly demanded the release of her imprisoned father and had also given speeches in her honor at award ceremonies.
Navalny's widow did not immediately travel to see her children when his death was announced Friday, but instead visited the Munich Security Conference, where she blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for her husband's fate.
The Kremlin has said it had nothing to do with Navalny's death and that the circumstances are being investigated. Putin has not yet commented on the matter.
