2024-02-16 14:25:00
Friday February 16, the Russian penitentiary services announced the death of Alexeï Navalny, public enemy number 1 in Russia. The death took place in a remote penal colony in the Arctic, just a month before the presidential election.
Aged 47, the activist was serving a 19-year prison sentence for “extremism”. He had been there for three years. As reported by AFP, he had a series of health problems linked to a hunger strike, as well as this poisoning, of which he suffered in 2020 and which he miraculously survived. For several weeks, although his body appeared particularly weakened, his determination had not wavered.
During the hearings and in messages broadcast on social networks through his team, he continued relentlessly to insult Vladimir Putin, described as “grandpa hidden in a bunker”. During his trial, he castigated “the stupidest and most senseless war of the 21st century”, referring to the Russian assault on Ukraine. In his online messages, he was ironic about the bullying the prison administration subjected him to.
Moreover, we do not know much about the context of his death, the authorities having limited themselves to a terse press release: “On February 16, 2024, in penitentiary center No. 3, prisoner Navalny AA felt unwell after a walk and almost immediately lost consciousness […] All necessary resuscitation measures were performed, but did not produce positive results. Emergency doctors pronounced the patient dead. The causes of death are being established.”explained the prison services.
It goes without saying that hypotheses are rife. For the president of Latvia, he “has just been brutally assassinated by the Kremlin”. Ditto for the head of Polish diplomacy. For the head of French diplomacy, he “paid with his life for his resistance to a system of oppression”. For British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, it is a “huge tragedy” for the Russian people. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “very saddened” and judged that he had “paid for his courage with his life”.
What is certain is that his disappearance will reshuffle the cards for the upcoming presidential election. In a message published on February 1 by his team, he called for demonstrations throughout Russia during the presidential election scheduled for March 15 to 17. If nothing stops him, Vladimir Putin will remain in power until at least 2030.
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