The spokesperson for deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says his body has been turned over to the custody of his mother.

Spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh announced that Navalny’s body has been turned over by the Russian government after days of pleading from Lyudmila Navalnaya, the late activist’s mother. 

“Alexey’s body was handed over to his mother,” Yarmysh announced via social media on Saturday. “Many thanks to all those who demanded this with us. Lyudmila Ivanovna is still in Salekhard.”

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appears via a video link from the Arctic penal colony where he is serving a 19-year sentence, provided by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service during a hearing of Russia’s Supreme Court, in Moscow, Russia. (AP/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

“I am addressing you, Vladimir Putin. The solution to the issue depends only on you. Let me finally see my son,” she added. “I demand that Alexei’s body be immediately handed over so that I can bury him humanely.” 

Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya added later on social media, “Give back Alexei’s body and let him be buried with dignity, don’t stop people from saying goodbye to him.”

She alleged in another video on Monday that her husband was poisoned and Russian that officials were holding onto his body until all traces of the nerve agent disappeared. 

People lay flowers paying their respects to Alexei Navalny at the at the Wall of Sorrow memorial to victims of political repression in Moscow, Russia. (AP/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Navalny’s body reportedly was found with “signs of bruising,” while government officials told his mother last week that Navalny died of “sudden death syndrome,” according to Reuters. 

World leaders including President Biden are blaming Putin after Russia announced Navalny’s death at a penal colony in Siberia on Friday, but the Kremlin is now calling those statements “obnoxious,” the news agency adds.