He was serving a three-decade term for extremism and fraud charges that he had called political payback for his anti-Kremlin stance
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in a maximum-security prison in the country’s far north, the Interfax news service reported Friday, citing the Federal Penitentiary Service.
47 year old Navalny, a major critic of President Vladimir Putin, vanished in December from a prison in the Vladimir region where he was serving a three-decade term for extremism and fraud charges that he had called political payback for his anti-Kremlin stance a decade ago. He had no expectations of getting out of jail as long as Putin was in power.
He later emerged in a remote Arctic prison camp, ending nearly three weeks in which his whereabouts were unknown, after he was moved from a prison outside Moscow.
“On February 16, 2024, in penal colony No. 3, convict A.A. Navalny felt unwell after a walk, almost immediately losing consciousness,” Interfax said, citing the country’s prison service.
The Russian news agency continued: “The facility’s medical workers immediately arrived at the scene and an emergency medical team was called in. All necessary resuscitation measures have been carried out, but they did not yield positive results. Emergency medics confirmed the death of the convict.”
Navalny’s death leaves any opposition to Putin in question. All of Putin’s top adversaries are now either deceased, imprisoned, or living in exile.
Navalny was, undoubtedly, the biggest thorn in the Kremlin’s side. For over a decade, he led nationwide protests against the authorities, ran for office to challenge members of the Russian establishment and set up a network of campaign offices across the country that have since been dismantled.
Of course, the timing of Navalny’s death shortly after Tucker Carlson’s interview with Russian President Putin has set the socials on fire.
— BeppiButler (@BeppiButler1) February 16, 2024
