Alexei Anatolievich Navalny (Russian: Алексей Анатольевич Навальный), † (June 4, 1976 - February 16, 2024 [aged 47])[1] was a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, and anti-corruption activist. He has organised anti-government demonstrations and run for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia, and against president Vladimir Putin and his government, who avoids referring directly to Navalny by name. Navalny was a Russian Opposition Coordination Council member. He was the leader of the Russia of the Future party and founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK).
Attempted Assassination[]
In August 2020, Navalny was hospitalised in serious condition after being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. He was medically evacuated to Berlin and discharged a month later. Navalny accused Putin of being responsible for his poisoning, and an investigation implicated agents from the Federal Security Service (FSB). The EU, UK and US responded by imposing sanctions on senior Russian officials.
Imprisonment[]
In January 2021, Navalny returned to Russia and was immediately detained on accusations of violating parole conditions while he was in Germany which were imposed as a result of his 2014 conviction. Following his arrest and the release of the documentary Putin's Palace, which accused Putin of corruption, mass protests were held across Russia. In February, his suspended sentence was replaced with a prison sentence of over two and half years' detention. A resolution by the ECHR called for his release. While in prison, Navalny and human rights groups have accused Russian authorities of subjecting him to torture. He is recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. In October 2021, while still in prison, he was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights. In March 2022, Navalny was sentenced to an additional nine years in prison after being found guilty of embezzlement and contempt of court in a new trial. At the moment, while Navalny remains in prison, his team helps create videos exposing the truth about his situation and trial, while maintaining his YouTube channel.
On 19 January 2021, two days after he was detained by Russian authorities upon his return to Russia, an investigation by Navalny and the FBK was published accusing President Vladimir Putin of using fraudulently obtained funds to build a massive estate for himself near the town of Gelendzhik in Krasnodar Krai, in what he called "the world's biggest bribe". The estate was first reported on in 2010 after the businessman Sergei Kolesnikov, who was involved in the project, gave details about it. According to Navalny, the estate is 39 times the size of Monaco, with the Federal Security Service (FSB) owning 70 square kilometers of land around the palace, and the estate cost over 100 billion rubles ($1.35 billion) to construct. It also showed aerial footage of the estate via a drone, and a detailed floorplan of the palace that Navalny and the FBK said was given by a contractor, which was compared to photographs from inside the palace that were leaked onto the Internet in 2011. Using the floorplan, computer-generated visualisations of the palace interior were also shown.
This investigation also detailed an elaborate corruption scheme allegedly involving Putin's inner circle that allowed Putin to hide billions of dollars to build the estate. Navalny's team also said that it managed to confirm reporting about Putin's alleged lovers Svetlana Krivonogikh and Alina Kabaeva. Navalny's video on YouTube garnered over 20 million views in less than a day, and over 92 million after a week. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in a press conference called the investigation a "scam" and said that citizens should "think before transferring money to such crooks".
Since January 2021, the Russian government has imprisoned Navalny and declared that the FBK is an extremist organization and has pursued other FBK members and supporters. Navalny was recognized as a political prisoner by the Human Rights organization Memorial and by the Council of Europe.
Death[]
On February 16, 2024, Navalny died in prison, and while foul play hasn't been confirmed it has became a common speculation. It's confirmed that he died from natural causes related to a blood clot and sudden death syndrome.
