Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny dies while in prison

Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition politician and fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, died in prison on Friday, according to Russian authorities.

The Federal Penitentiary Service says Navalny reported feeling unwell after a walk and lost consciousness. Attempts to revive him by an ambulatory crew were unsuccessful and the 47-year-old was pronounced deceased.

The service says the exact cause of death is “being established.”

A spokesperson for the Kremlin says that Putin has been informed of the death and the prison would examine the death through its standard procedures.

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Navanly’s spokesperson, however, shared on social media that as of Friday morning, his political team has not received confirmation of his death and that his lawyer would be travelling to the prison in which he was being held.

The Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug is spreading the news of Alexey Navalny’s death in IK-3. We have no confirmation of this yet. Alexey’s lawyer is currently on his way to Kharp. As soon as we have some information, we will report on…

— Кира Ярмыш (@Kira_Yarmysh) February 16, 2024

Nalvany has been jailed, serving a 19-year sentence for charges of extremism, since he returned to Moscow in January 2021 after he recovered from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.

Prior to his arrest, Navalny campaigned against corruption, led the organization of major anti-Kremlin protests and ran for public office.

The critic received three prison sentences, which he deemed to be politically motivated.

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Nalvany had been moved in December from a prison in central Russia to the “special regime” penal colony, known to be the highest security level of prisons in the country, that is located above the Arctic Circle.

Political opponents in Putin’s Russia have notoriously faded amid factional disputes or were forced into exile following imprisonment, suspected poisoning or other forms of heavy repression.

Despite this, Nalvany seemed to only grow consistently stronger, reaching the highest level of Russian opposition leadership.

Putin infamously refused to ever say his greatest critic’s name out loud, referring to him exclusively as an irritation of “that person.”

This report was created with filed from The Canadian Press