Introduction

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Vladimir Putin’s most prominent rival reportedly died in prison after spending years challenging Russia’s longtime leader.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny takes part in a march in memory of Russian politician and opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, Feb. 24, 2019, in Moscow.

News of the death in prison of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most influential political rival, Alexei Navalny, sparked outrage in Russia and around the world on Friday — though some were not surprised by the outcome.

Officials say Navalny, 47, died on Feb. 16 at a prison colony in the Arctic Circle after years in prison on charges including embezzlement and extremism. For more than a decade he has spoken out against Putin and his authoritarian regime, which is characterized by a general intolerance of dissent. “There is no doubt that Navalny’s death was the result of what Putin and his thugs did.

Who Was Alexei Navalny

Navalny, arguably Putin’s most outspoken and popular opponent, has worked tirelessly to sway public opinion by exposing the Russian leader’s corruption of wealth and his vendetta against political opponents and activists. He rose to prominence in the early 2000s by forming a movement against overdevelopment in Moscow and corruption in state-run corporations, the Associated Press reported. Navalny later participated in several mass protestsAlexei Navalny fell unconscious and died after a walk at the ‘Polar Wolf’

The dissident leader ran for mayor of Moscow in 2013 and wanted to challenge Putin in the 2018 presidential election, but was barred from running. Navalny, who is of half-Ukrainian descent, has spoken out against Russian aggression in his neighbor, but has a complicated history with the country, saying in 2011 that “it would be great if we now lived in a country with Ukraine and Belarus,

“Navalny will be forever in Russian history,” Konstantin Sonin, a distinguished service professor and Russian economist at the University of Chicago, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, about his friend. “In terrible prison conditions,” he added, Navalny spoke against “Putin’s criminal war against Ukraine, against Putin’s criminal regime, and for a better, more honest and kind Russia.”

Navalny is survived by his wife Yulia Navalnaya and two children. At the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Navalnaya said Putin and his party would be brought to justice. “We cannot trust Putin and his government,” he said. “They keep lying. But if it’s true, I want Putin and all his staff, everyone around him, his government and friends to know that they should be punished for what they did to our country, to my family and to them. will be

Why Was Alexei Navalny in Prison?

In August 2020, Navalny was poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent that he and his supporters directly attributed to Putin’s orders, which the Kremlin has repeatedly denied. Navalny was in a medically induced coma for several weeks after the attack.

The following year, Navalny was sentenced to two and a half years in a federal penal colony for a parole violation as he recuperated in Germany after the poisoning. After his arrest, there was a storm of protests in the country. In 2022, he was sentenced to nine years in prison for embezzlement. Navalny was later sentenced to 19 years in prison on charges of extremism in August 2023 and recently faced additional charges related to vandalism.

What Are the Circumstances Around Navalny’s Death?

Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service in the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region said in a statement that Navalny felt ill after walking to a prison camp in Kharp, more than 1,000 miles northeast of Moscow. He lost consciousness almost immediately and the cause of death is being ascertained, the statement said.

Putin was later informed about the incident, according to a report by Tass, the Russian state news service. Another article on the state-run website noted that Navalny had felt fine while attending a court appearance virtually on Thursday, and video of the proceeding showed him joking and laughing with the judge.

Navalny’s chief of staff, Leonid Volkov, has expressed some doubt that his boss is dead. On Wednesday, Navalny’s account on the social media site said he had been given ’15 days in the punishment cell’.

Who Else Is Russia Holding as a Political Prisoner?

Recent calculations are startling. According to Memorial, Russia’s oldest and most prominent human rights organization, the country had 558 political prisoners as of April 2023, which was ordered to close in 2021. This number is three times higher than the count five years ago, according to the news agency AP.

Wall Street Journal correspondent Ivan Gershkovich is an example. The journalist has been in prison in Russia for almost a year on espionage charges – which he denies – and is still awaiting trial. Putin recently said Gershkovich could be released in a prisoner exchange.

But there are many others. Like Navalny, anti-Russian politician Ilya Yashin has been jailed for social media posts condemning Russian troops’ atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine. Putin’s government also jailed human rights defender Vladimir Kara-Murza, Moscow City Councilman Alexei Gorinov and journalist Maria Ponomarenko.

A February 2023 statement by Michael Carpenter, the US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said, “We call on Russia to release more than 500 political prisoners, including those wrongfully imprisoned who have challenged Putin’s false narrative about his brutal war of choice against Ukraine.” are unjustly imprisoned for expressing such views.

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