Moscow, 21 February 2024 (dpa/MIA) - The complaint filed by the mother of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who died in prison, to get his body returned to her will not be heard by a Russian court until March 4, the Russian state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday.

A hearing on the lawsuit filed by Lyudmila Navalnaya will take place in the Siberian city of Salekhard, but the proceedings will not be open to the public, TASS said.

Navalny's team had previously reported that the authorities told his relatives that the body would remain under lock and key for another two weeks due to "chemical tests."

Russian authorities maintain that Navalny collapsed on Friday while walking around the yard in the prison camp north of the Arctic Circle. Resuscitation attempts by prison officers were in vain, they said.

Navalny, 47, had been weakened by a poison attack in 2020 and repeated solitary confinement in the camp. But a day before his death he appeared on-screen, looking gaunt, but not sick and he joked with the judge.

His team, and many world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, have blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for Navalny's death.

More than 70,000 people in Russia have already signed an appeal for the body to be handed over to the relatives. In a video on Tuesday, Navalny's mother personally asked Putin to allow her to see her son and bury him as soon as possible. So far there has been no response from the Kremlin.

MIA file photo