Navalny's widow accuses Putin of 'Satanism'

The widow and daughter of Alexei Navalny have urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to release the body of the opposition leader for burial.

It has been more than a week since Russia's best-known activist died in prison, sparking international outrage from leaders who regarded him as a political prisoner.

In a video message published on Saturday Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said that Putin, who describes himself as a devout Christian, is mocking the remains of the deceased and displaying "open Satanism."

"Hand over Alexei," she says in the video. "They tortured him alive and continue to torture him dead. They are breaking every human and divine law."

Navalny's daughter Dasha has also asked for the release of her father's body. In a post published on the social network X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday she wrote "Give grandma my father's body."

Her grandmother Lyudmila Navalnaya had stated in a video on Thursday that Putin's authorities wanted to force her to hold a secret funeral and had threatened to harm the body.

Putin was actually driven by hatred and a desire for revenge, said Yulia Navalnaya.

"No, it's not even hatred, it's Satanism, paganism." Faith, she said, is about goodness, about mercy, about redemption. "And no true Christian could ever do what Putin is now doing with the dead Alexei."

In the video the 47-year-old Navalnaya condemned Putin's war against Ukraine, and said he had weaponized the Russian Orthodox church.

"They are simply killing, bombing sleeping civilians at night with missiles that were blessed in the church," said Navalnaya.

The Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill, is a confidant of Putin and an ardent supporter of the war against Ukraine. Russian clergymen often bless missiles in public.