Nine days after Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s death at an Arctic penal colony, his body has been released to his mother Lyudmila Navalnaya. Last week, she said Russian authorities were blackmailing her into holding a “secret funeral” for her son, who was in jail on extremism, fraud and embezzlement charges – which he vehemently denied. Navalny was widely considered the biggest threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hold on power, and there’s been an outpouring of grief from his supporters in Russia and across the world. Hundreds of mourners have been arrested at memorials for Navalny across Russia, and talk is now turning to his funeral, which his spokeswoman says is still up in the air. Critics say the Kremlin’s concern is that a public funeral could spark protests against Putin’s leadership as his war in Ukraine drags on into its third year…