Thousands of mourners lined the streets of Moscow in defiance of Vladimir Putin to mark the funeral of Alexei Navalny.
The crowds chanted “no to the war” and “Putin is a murderer” as the political activist - a prominent critic of Putin and the Kremlin - was laid to rest.
He died under mysterious circumstances while serving a lengthy prison sentence – on charges widely seen as politically-motivated – in an Arctic penal colony last month.
As the hearse carrying Navalny’s coffin arrived at the Soothe My Sorrows church in the Russian capital, the crowd outside clapped and shouted “Alexei! Alexei!”
Following the funeral service, a large crowd walked to the Borisovskoye cemetery, where Navalny was buried to the theme music from Terminator 2, his favourite film.
Addressing the European parliament on Wednesday, Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya said Putin was “a bloody monster” who had tortured and then killed her husband.
She said: “You cannot stop Putin with another resolution or another set of
sanctions that are no different from the previous ones.
“You cannot defeat him by thinking he is a man of principle, who has morals and truths.
“He is not like that. Alexei realised that a long time ago.
“You are dealing with a politician, but with a bloody monster. Putin is the leader of an organised criminal gang.”