Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader jailed for being a staunch critic of Vladimir Putin’s government and policies, was officially declared dead by the Yamalo-Nenets prison department on Friday.
What Happened?
The Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District said in a statement that Navalny “felt unwell” after a walk on Friday and “almost immediately lost consciousness,” Reuters reported.
Per the statement, “All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out, which did not yield positive results. Doctors of the ambulance stated the death of the convict. The causes of death are being established.” The prison system and medical officials have not provided any further information concerning the death. According to BBC News, Navalny was seen attending a court session via video link on Thursday, “looking well and laughing.”
Navalny’s wife, Yulia, speaking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference just a few hours after the announcement, said she did not know whether she could believe the news because of Russia’s lies.
But, on Saturday, Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, announced that he was dead. Yarmysh stated that his mother, Lyudmila, had received a death notice. The notice stated that the time of death was 2:17 p.m. local time (0917 GMT) on 16 February. “Right now we don’t have access to the body and we don’t know for sure where it is, and we demand that the Russian authorities immediately give Alexei’s body to his family,” Yarmysh asserted.
Alexey Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin's most potent political challenger, collapsed and died in jail on Friday where he was serving a three-decade jail term, Russian prison authorities said. Here's who he was. https://t.co/9q1lJFlxAC pic.twitter.com/oYcAAq48tl
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 16, 2024
“When Alexei’s lawyer and mother arrived at the colony this morning, they were told that the cause of Navalny’s death was sudden death syndrome,” Ivan Zhdanov, director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, said. Navalny’s team claimed Saturday that the leader was “murdered” and accused authorities of purposely delaying the delivery of the body, with Navalny’s mother and lawyers receiving contradictory details from the several institutions they visited to retrieve the body.
Navalny, Russian Opposition Leader
Navalny, an anti-corruption advocate, has long been the most prominent face of Russia’s opposition to President Putin and was termed an “extremist” in Russia. He came dangerously close to death in August 2020, when he was attacked with a Novichok nerve agent in Siberia. However, his team relocated him to Berlin, where he recovered for months before returning to Moscow in January 2021, where he was immediately detained.
In 2021, a Moscow court sentenced Navalny to prison for violating the terms of a suspended fraud conviction imposed in 2014. The case against him resulted from his unwillingness to report to police on a regular basis in 2020.
Navalny’s most recent punishment, meted out by judges in August 2023, was an extension of his prison term to 19 years, including sending him to a maximum-security penal colony often designated for Russia’s most dangerous criminals.
#Navalny's appeal to Russians in case of his death
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) February 16, 2024
🎥 Excerpt from the movie "Navalny" by Daniel Rohr, 2022 pic.twitter.com/QET6hQ122V
Navalny accused Putin of “sucking the blood out of Russia” by creating a “feudal state” in which power is concentrated in the Kremlin. He compared the patronage system to Tsarist Russia. The former lawyer rose to prominence after writing blogs that he claimed exposed widespread corruption among Russia’s elite. He founded the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), which has accused officials of corruption on several occasions. He claimed that Russia is governed by “crooks and thieves.”
Navalny was jailed in January 2021 for exposing government corruption and coordinating large anti-Kremlin protests. He was arrested several times for organising public protests and charged with corruption, embezzlement, and fraud. However, he claimed the charges and convictions were politically motivated.
Navalny Moved to Arctic Penal Colony
The opposition leader had been moved to a penal colony in northern Russia’s Arctic region, his spokesperson said on 25 December, after supporters had been unable to contact him for more than two weeks. “They definitely try to isolate Alexei and to make it more difficult to access him,” Yarmysh stated. Navalny’s lawyer, Ivan Zhdanov, stated that Navalny’s supporters had filed 618 requests for information about his location, implying that the Russian authorities aimed to isolate Navalny ahead of the March presidential election.
Reportedly, Navalny’s allies, who had been prepared for his expected transfer to a “special regime” colony, the hardest grade in Russia’s jail system, claim he had not seen his lawyers since 6 December and were concerned about his fate. “The conditions there are harsh, with a special regime in the permafrost,” said Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s ally.
If reports of Aleksey Navalny's death are true, Russian authorities will tell their own story.
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 16, 2024
But make no mistake.
Putin is responsible for this death.
Global Response
US President Joe Biden said, “We don’t know exactly what happened, but there is no doubt that the death of Nalvany was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
Similarly, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated, “His death in a Russian prison and the fixation and fear of one man only underscores the weakness and rot at the heart of the system that Putin has built. Russia is responsible for this.”
“It is obvious: he was killed by Putin, as thousands of others were tortured and martyred by this one ‘creature.’ Putin does not care who dies as long as he keeps his position. And that is why he should not keep anything. Putin should lose everything and answer for what he has done,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed shock and urged a “full, credible and transparent investigation.”
“Alexei Navalny fought for the values of freedom and democracy. For his ideals, he made the ultimate sacrifice. The EU holds the Russian regime solely responsible for this tragic death,” European Union Council President Charles Michel wrote on X.