Alexei Navalny, Russian opposition leader, lawyer, anti-corruption activist, and political prisoner, passed away while serving his sentence in a penal colony on January 16, the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug reports.
The report indicates that Navalny began feeling unwell following a walk and quickly lost consciousness. Despite receiving immediate resuscitation efforts, Navalny did not respond positively.
Emergency medical personnel subsequently confirmed his death. The Federal Penitentiary Service disclosed that Navalny's passing was attributed to a blood clot. He was 47 years old. The Russian Federal Penitentiary Service is sending a commission to correctional colony No. 3 in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, where Navalny died.
"Doctors should determine the causes of Navalny's death. The Federal Penitentiary Service will carry out all investigations, special instructions are not required, - said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Background information
Alexei Navalny has been in prison since early 2021. In August 2023, the Moscow City Court sentenced the politician to 19 years in prison in a "special regime" colony on the charge of "extremism".
Formerly associated with nationalist politics, Navalny played a pivotal role in inciting the 2011-12 demonstrations in Russia, rallying against electoral malpractice and governmental corruption. He extensively probed into Putin's inner circle, disseminating his findings through polished videos that amassed hundreds of millions of views.
His political zenith occurred in 2013 when he secured 27% of the vote in a Moscow mayoral election, an event widely viewed as lacking in fairness and transparency. Navalny persistently challenged the Kremlin thereafter, uncovering a seaside palace purportedly built for Putin's personal use, exposing lavish properties and yachts linked to former President Dmitry Medvedev, and revealing a connection between a high-ranking foreign policy official and a prominent oligarch through a sex worker's testimony.
In 2020, Navalny fell critically ill after an alleged novichok poisoning orchestrated by Russia's FSB security service, necessitating his evacuation to Germany for medical treatment. Following his recovery, he returned to Russia in January 2021, only to be promptly arrested on parole violation charges. Subsequently, he faced a series of imprisonments, cumulatively amounting to over 30 years of incarceration.
Recent developments
Here is the last video of Navalny filmed on February 15.
At the beginning of December 2023, he vanished from a correctional facility located in the Vladimir region, where he was imprisoned under a 30-year term for charges related to extremism and fraud. He asserted that these charges were politically motivated retaliation for his leadership role in the anti-Kremlin opposition movement of the 2010s. He held no anticipation of being granted release while President Putin remained in office.
Putin has initiated a bid for his fifth presidential term, marking a milestone in his political career. Currently holding the record as the longest-serving Russian leader since Joseph Stalin, Putin stands to extend his tenure further, potentially surpassing even Stalin's tenure if he chooses to run for office again in 2030. This prospect became feasible after constitutional amendments in 2020 altered the rules on presidential term limits.
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