Like many prominent Kremlin critics before him, Alexei Navalny paid with his life for his fearless fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin. The country’s most famous political prisoner died on Friday at the age of 47 in his Siberian penal colony, according to the judiciary. It was said that he collapsed after a walk and attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.
The imprisoned opposition politician’s team says they have not yet received direct confirmation of his death. His spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch wrote this on Friday on Portal X (formerly Twitter). So far there has only been general notification from the correctional system in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug about Navalny’s death in the prison camp, she said. Navalny’s lawyer is on his way to the IK-3 camp in the town of Charp, north of the Arctic Circle. “As soon as we have information, we will report,” wrote Jarmysch.
The father of the family had repeatedly complained about the lack of medical help, harassment and even torture in the prison camp. Until the very end, the emaciated and visibly weakened politician appeared determined in his goal of achieving a “Russia without Putin”, for example when appearing at court hearings.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) expressed shock at the news of his death. The Kremlin critic apparently “paid for his courage with his life,” said Scholz on Friday in Berlin.
The lawyer made many enemies, especially with his fight against corruption in the power apparatus under Putin. Navalny’s anti-corruption fund spent years building up its own structures in many parts of the vast empire. As they increasingly gained political influence and Navalny’s people were elected, the leadership in Moscow had the network dismantled and banned as “extremist”. Leading members of Navalny’s team fled abroad. From their exile they continued the fight against what they saw as thoroughly criminal and mafia-like power structures. But Navalny stayed. Now his team has to make do without the figurehead Navalny.
From the prison camp, since Putin’s attack on Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, the politician has not only repeatedly denounced Russian war crimes as a strong opponent of the invasion. The charismatic politician with blue eyes, who would have liked to become president himself, warned above all that Putin would be re-elected this year. The Kremlin leader, who has led the country for almost a quarter of a century, is steering Russia to ruin, warned Navalny.
He wanted to face his fight against the system within the country and not from abroad. Navalny stood by this, and his family and friends also appreciated him for it. This is one of the reasons why he returned to Russia in January 2021 from Germany, where he had been treated at the Berlin Charité after an assassination attempt involving the nerve agent Novichok – even though he was threatened with imprisonment. In the same year he also received the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for intellectual freedom, which his daughter Dasha accepted.
Despite his imprisonment, Navalny managed to address the public with encouraging and often humorous texts from Penal Camp 6 in Melechovo near the city of Kovrov, about 260 kilometers northeast of Moscow. The sentence was increased to a total of 19 years in prison at the last trial, which, like all the others before it, was considered politically staged. Further lawsuits threatened. However, his appearances at court proceedings repeatedly caused horror because he was becoming increasingly weak and physically deteriorating.
Doctors appealed to Putin to ensure Navalny’s right to medical treatment as a guarantor of the constitution. Navalny’s wife Julia had also written to the prison system and asked whether people were still working there. She once complained last year that she hadn’t been allowed to talk to her husband on the phone for almost a year. “Letters are our last means of connection.” But recently neither letters from Navalny nor documents were delivered to him, said his spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch at the beginning of December.
His wife Julia and their two children have been in constant fear for Navalny’s life since he narrowly survived the attack with the chemical weapon Novichok in August 2020. Navalny had described Putin as a “murderer” who had commissioned a hit squad from the domestic secret service FSB to do so. The Kremlin always rejected this.
Navalny’s team repeatedly accused the Kremlin of continuing to do everything it could to eliminate Putin’s most important opponent. The warnings went unheeded. For a long time, the Russian opposition had high hopes that Putin would suffer defeat in his war against Ukraine and have to resign. But the 71-year-old has been on the winning track for months.
Russia’s liberal opposition is likely to continue organizing underground resistance at home and abroad. Millions follow Navalny’s team on social networks, which also brings current political news programs, commentaries and talk shows on YouTube. The “Russia without Putin” campaign recently began there with a view to the presidential election. Navalny had called for people to vote for any candidate – just not for Putin.
Note: This article has been updated several times.
