He was poisoned, imprisoned repeatedly and, finally, he died in prison: Alexei Navalny paid with his life the fight he waged for years against Vladimir Putin by denouncing his regime, as reported in an article by the French agency AFP.
Navalny, who has been in prison since January 2021, was sentenced last August to 19 years in prison for “extremist activity”.
As of late 2023, he had been transferred to a remote prison in the Arctic, where he breathed his last.
In his last public appearances, the 47-year-old Putin critic had appeared weakened.
The poisoning of 2020, the hunger strike and his imprisonment in solitary confinement had worn him down.
Navalny did not stop, however, until the last moment, criticizing Putin.
During his trial for “extremist action” in August 2023, he denounced “the most stupid and senseless war of the 21st century”, referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I know that the darkness will disappear, that we will win, that Russia will become a peaceful, bright and happy country,” he wrote in June 2023.
The main stations on its way
2007: Lawyer (specializing in commercial law), Alexei Navalny, began buying shares in companies in which the Russian state had a stake, to gain access to their financial data and highlight cases of opacity. In the same year, he was expelled from the liberal opposition party Yabloko.
2010: Through the website Rospil, began highlighting and reporting cases of government/state corruption in Russia.
2011: In the winter of 2011 he became head of the movement challenging the result of parliamentary elections won by Putin’s ruling party. For the first time since Putin came to power in 2000, these rallies were so well attended. Navalny then faced his first prison terms and founded the organization called the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK).
July 2013: Sentenced to five years in prison on 18 July 2013 for embezzling money from the Kirovles logging company. He himself saw political motives behind his prosecution.
September 2013: Tried to be elected mayor of Moscow. He managed to secure 27.2% of the vote but came second.
2017: Accused Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of heading a real estate empire funded by oligarchs.
2018: He attempted to run for the presidency of Russia, but the election commission rejected his candidacy due to his conviction in the Kirovles case.
August 2020: On August 20, 2020, he came one step closer to death. His health deteriorated while held in Siberia and, at the request of his people, he was transferred to Berlin where it was found that he had been poisoned with the nerve agent Novitchok.
January 2021: After recovering in Germany, Navalny returned to Russia. He was arrested as soon as he landed in Moscow on January 17, 2021. His entourage complained that Putin is building a palace on the shores of the Black Sea.
February 2021: Russian Justice changed his suspended sentence for “fraud” to two and a half years in prison and sent him to a prison 100 km east of Moscow. His anti-corruption organization FBK was shut down, accused of “extremism”.
October 2021: Awarded the Sakharov Prize.
March 2022: Found guilty of “fraud” and “contempt of court” and sentenced to nine years in prison. He was taken to a prison 250 km east of Moscow, from where he denounced the invasion of Ukraine.
August 2023: On August 4, 2023, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison for “extremism”.
December 2023: His spokesman announced that he had been transferred to a prison in the Arctic.
February 2024: Navalny called for protests across Russia during the country’s March 15-17 presidential election, which will allow Putin to stay in power until at least 2030.
Source: APE-MPE, AFP
2024-02-16 14:47:04