cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37474535
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“[The officials] threatened to start a criminal investigation against us if we opened the coffin without permission. I asked them to show me at least a photo of the body to see what it looked like before it was placed in the coffin. They didn’t have one. They didn’t allow us to do a DNA test,” [widow Valeria] Mikhailova said […] Without seeing and identifying the body, the Mikhailov family is not convinced that the remains in the coffin actually belonged to [Mikhailova’s husband] Maxim, as authorities claimed.
[…]
According to families, eyewitnesses, and Russian media reports, since the start of the war in February 2022, it has become common practice for Russian military personnel to request that relatives of dead soldiers not open the coffins they receive from Ukraine.
Authorities do not give a reason, simply informing relatives that opening coffins is against the law.
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