Body of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny handed back to his mother

The body of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been handed over to his mother, according to his aide.

The widow of Alexei Navalny had accused Vladimir Putin of mocking Christianity by trying to force the Russian opposition leader’s mother to agree to a secret funeral after his death in a penal colony.

Yulia Navalnaya said in a video released today (February 24) that Navalny’s mother, who wanted her son’s body returned to her, is being "literally tortured" by authorities who had threatened to bury him in the Arctic prison.

Navalnaya said: "Give us the body of my husband. You tortured him alive, and now you keep torturing him dead. You mock the remains of the dead.

"No true Christian could ever do what Putin is now doing with the body of Alexei. What will you do with his corpse? How low will you sink to mock the man you murdered?"

Navalny, Russia’s most well-known opposition politician, died on February 16 in the penal colony, prompting hundreds of Russians across the country to stream to impromptu memorials with flowers and candles. Authorities have detained scores of people as they seek to suppress any major outpouring of sympathy for Putin’s fiercest opponent - before a presidential election he is almost certain to win.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected allegations that Putin was involved in Navalny’s death, calling them "absolutely unfounded, insolent accusations about the head of the Russian state".