Who was Alexei Navalny, Putin's main opponent, who died in prison?
The Russian opponent Alexei Navalny died on Friday (16), in the YamalNenets prison in Russia's Arctic region, where he served his sentence. The day before, he attended a court hearing remotely via video, cracking jokes and smiling.
The video was published by the Russian press agency Sota.
Navalny teased the judge in a goodnatured tone. “Your Excellency, I’m waiting. “I will send you my bank account number so you can use your enormous federal judge salary to fund my account,” he said.
He continued with the joke: “I'm running out of money, and thanks to your decisions it's going to run out even faster.” So please send me some. Your friends in detention centers can also contribute.”
The cause of death was not disclosed. The Russian government said it had no information about it.
The activist's death was announced the following day.
While walking he became ill and died
Navalny's wife Yulia Navalnaya said she did not fully believe her husband was dead.
“We cannot trust Putin and his government. They always lie. But if that's true, I want Putin, his entire entourage, Putin's friends, his government to know that they will be held accountable for what they did to my country.” Family, my husband. And that day will come very soon,” he explained.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that “the United States should limit itself to waiting for the official results of the medical examination rather than making indiscriminate accusations.”
Navalny, 47, was a former lawyer who became known for making corruption allegations against President Vladimir Putin's government. He presented himself as a liberal politician and the main opponent of the current president.
In 2010, he led a movement against Putin that brought thousands of people to the country's streets. Navalny became known on social media for speaking about Putin with mockery and irony.
Six years later he announced his candidacy for president. However, the Central Election Commission of Russia informed him that he could not run due to a court conviction. At that time, Navalny was the target of several investigations.
He was convicted of two crimes in Russia. The first case involved embezzlement in a stateowned timber company. The European Court of Human Rights concluded in 2016 that the trial was carried out arbitrarily.
In the second case, he and his brother Oleg were accused of defrauding the Russian subsidiary of the French cosmetics company Yves Roche of 26 million rubles (approximately R$1.46 million).
In 2018, after Navalny's candidacy was banned, Thousands of people protested across Russia against the election in which current President Vladimir Putin was elected for a fourth time. Navalny called for the demonstration, which was described as a “voters’ strike”.
Poisoning attempt
While serving a prison sentence for his involvement in an election protest in 2019, Navalny was hospitalized with an illness that authorities said was an allergic reaction but some doctors said appeared to be poisoning.
A year later, on August 20, 2020, he fell seriously ill during a flight from Siberia to Moscow, where he was supposed to take part in an event with Putin's opponents. As he returned from the toilet, he collapsed in the hallway and the plane made an emergency landing in the city of Omsk, where he spent two days in a hospital while supporters pleaded with doctors to let him fly to Germany for treatment.
Navalny was in a medically induced coma for about two weeks and then worked for several more weeks to regain his speech and movement. Russia has denied any involvement in the poisoning.
After recovering from the poisoning, Navalny was arrested in 2021. And as he served his sentence, his lawyer Olga Mikhailova reported that she was worried about Navalny's health. According to the defense attorney at the time, he complained of pain in his back and legs during a visit.
She had already stated back then that she feared for Navalny’s “life” and “health”.
In addition, Navalny's defense denounced that their client was deprived of sleep by the institution's guards, which they classified as torture.
People close to the Russian enemy were also worried about his health at the time.
A week after family members expressed concern, Navalny said he would end his hunger strike.
Russian opponent Alexei Navalny announces end to hunger strike in prison
The Russian enemy was reported missing on December 6thas his allies claimed that Navalny's lawyers were barred from entering the prison where he was being held.
His representatives said he was not receiving letters addressed to him and that he was not attending court hearings via video conference as usual.
Then they discovered he had been transferred from prison to Polar Wolf. (For more information about the prison, see below)but they had no further information about his whereabouts.
At the time, the US government expressed deep concern for Navalny's wellbeing and said that Russian authorities were responsible for him.
In response, the Kremlin said the American statements amounted to unacceptable interference in Russia's internal affairs.
Navalny then resurfaced on December 25 after speaking to his lawyer from prison in YamalNenets.
The prison called Polar Wolf, where Navalny was held, is considered one of the toughest prisons in Russia. Most of the prisoners who remained there were convicted of serious crimes.
In winter, temperatures in the area can reach 28°C.
About 60 km north of the Arctic Circle, the prison was founded in the 1960s as part of the former Gulag system of Soviet forced labor camps, according to the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.
Kira Yarmysh, the Russian politician's spokeswoman, said she believes so The decision to move him to such a remote and inhospitable location was intended to isolate him, make his life more difficult and make access more difficult for his lawyers and allies.
“I am your new Santa Claus,” Navalny jokingly wrote in his first post from his new prison, referring to the harsh weather conditions there.