Russia’s main opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died in prison, according to Russian state media.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, his wife Yulia, opposition politician Lyubov Sobol and other demonstrators take part in a march in memory of murdered Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov in downtown Moscow. (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
The 47-year-old, who was Russian president Vladimir Putin’s biggest critic, was serving a 19-year sentence in a remote Arctic prison for “promoting extremism”.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny addresses supporters during an unauthorized anti-Putin rally on May 5, 2018 in Moscow. (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
Prison authorities said Navalny died on Friday Feb. 16 after he collapsed and lost consciousness following a morning walk.
Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny during a hearing into an application by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service. (Photo by Moscow City Court Press Office\TASS via Getty Images)
Navalny had been arrested and jailed in January 2021 after he returned to Moscow from Berlin.
A photo shared on Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s instagram account shows Alexey Navalny on a hospital bed. (Photo by Alexey Navalny Instagram Account / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
He had traveled to Germany to receive treatment after he nearly died from being poisoned by a military-grade nerve agent, in a suspected Kremlin attack in 2020.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny stands inside a glass cell during a court hearing at the Babushkinsky district court in Moscow. (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
He was jailed after being found guilty of “embezzlement” and “fraud” – charges which were widely criticized as politically motivated.
Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny makes a heart gesture during a hearing into an application by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service. (Photo by Moscow City Court Press Office\TASS via Getty Images)
Russian media reported he would have been 74 by the time he got out of prison in 2050.
