Navalny's lawyer briefly detained, then released

(Patria) - The lawyer of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny was briefly detained in Moscow yesterday, Russian media reported.

Vasily Dubkov later told the independent portal Verstka that he was released. However, he did not comment on why he was detained.

With his help, Navalny's mother Lyudmila managed to retrieve her son's body on Saturday, eight days after he suddenly died in an Arctic prison.

Navalny's spokeswoman said they had not yet managed to find a hall for his memorial service.

At one location, they were told that funeral companies were forbidden to cooperate with them.

Alexei Navalny (47) was serving a sentence of more than thirty years in prison for fraud and extremism. He denied the charges and claimed he was being silenced.

The Kremlin denies accusations by Navalny's family and supporters that Putin had him killed.

Three of Navalny's lawyers were arrested in October last year on suspicion of being members of an "extremist group", and two more were placed on a wanted list.