ALEXEI Navalny told his wife “I love you more and more” in a tragic final Valentine’s Day message he sent from behind bars.
The jailed Russian opposition leader, a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin, has died in a hellhole Siberian prison, Russia claimed today.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia Navalnaya together in 2020Reuters
AFPThe vocal Putin critic appears in court for an appeal of his prison sentence[/caption]
AFPNavalny speaks with his wife Yulia on the first day of a trial held against him in 2022[/caption]
Prison officials alleged that the dissident, 47, collapsed inside the brutal Polar Wolf jail and could not be resuscitated.
Navalny, known for his campaigns against official corruption and for leading major anti-Kremlin protests, was arguably Putin’s fiercest foe.
He made his final declaration of love to his wife Yulia Navalnaya, 47, on Valentine’s Day.
The charismatic politician said: “Baby, everything is like a song with you: between us there are cities, the take-off lights of airfields, blue snowstorms and thousands of kilometres.
“But I feel that you are near every second, and I love you more and more.”
Yulia has been described as the “First Lady” of the Russian opposition.
She met Navalny, a lawyer from Moscow, in the summer of 1998 while on holiday in Turkey.
The pair married two years later and had two children – a daughter Daria, 23, and a son Zakhar, 15.
Before becoming her husband’s personal assistant and a homemaker for their family, Yulia was an economist and worked for numerous Russian banks.
She remained a staunch and constant supporter of her husband throughout his many bouts of ill health, right up until his “death”.
In 2020, while her husband fought for his life in a Berlin hospital, she regularly briefed journalists on his condition.
Some of the first words he uttered when he woke from his coma after being poisoned with Novichok were: “Yulia, you saved me.”
Navalny had been jailed for 19 years to keep him from standing as president and was out for a walk in the prison compound when he mysteriously collapsed, according to prison officials.
A statement read: “On February 16, 2024, in correctional colony No. 3, convict Navalny A.A. felt unwell after a walk, almost immediately losing consciousness.”
The officials further claimed that medics were sent to Navalny’s aid but were unable to resuscitate him.
Conflicting reports claim he was being held in solitary confinement when he died, according to the Human Rights Foundation.
His reported death comes after he suffered a serious health incident in December, at which time his supporters expressed fears for his life.
A spokesperson for the Kremlin critic said at the time that he hadn’t been fed for days and suffered a “hunger faint” in his cell.
AFPAlexei Navalny and his wife Yulia with their daughter Daria and son Zakhar[/caption]
ReutersThe Russian opposition leader speaks with his wife during a break in a court session in October 2013[/caption]
ReutersPolicemen detain Navalny at a rally in support of investigative journalist Ivan Golunov[/caption]
APRussian President Vladimir Putin has been slammed over Navalny’s reported death[/caption]
Life of Alexei Navalny
PUTIN’S best known opponent Alexei Navalny, 47, has died in prison.
Here is a timeline that took the leader of the opposition from the face of freedom in Russia and the Kremlin’s biggest foe to a hellhole Siberian prison and onto an early grave.
June 4, 1976 — Navalny is born in a western part of the Moscow region.
1997 — Graduates from Russia’s RUDN university, where he majored in law.
2004 — Forms a movement against rampant over-development in Moscow.
2008 — Gains notoriety for calling out corruption in state-run corporation
December 2011 — Participates in mass protests sparked by reports of widespread rigging of Russia’s election, and is arrested and jailed for 15 days for “defying a government official.”
March 2012 – Further mass protests break out and Navalny accuses key Kremlin cronies of corruption
July 2012 — Russia’s Investigative Committee charges Navalny with embezzlement. He rejects the claims and says they are politically motivated
2013 — Navalny runs for mayor in Moscow
July 2013 — A court in Kirov convicts Navalny of embezzlement in the Kirovles case, sentencing him to five years in prison – he appeals and is allowed to continue campaign
September 2013 — Official results show Navalny finishes second in the mayor’s race
February 2014 — Navalny is placed under house arrest
December 2014 — Navalny and his brother, Oleg, are found guilty of fraud
February 2016 — The European Court of Human Rights rules that Russia violated Navalny’s right to a fair trial
November 2016 — Russia’s Supreme Court overturns Navalny’s sentence
December 2016 — Navalny announces he will run in Russia’s 2018 presidential election
February 2017 — The Kirov court retries Navalny and upholds his five-year suspended sentence from 2013
April 2017 – Survives an assassination attempt he blames on Kremlin
December 2017 — Russia’s Central Electoral Commission bars him from running for president
August, 2020 – Navalny falls into a coma on a flight and his team suspects he was poisoned. German authorities confirm he was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent.
Jan 2021 — After five months in Germany, Navalny is arrested upon his return to Russia
Feb 2021 — A Moscow court orders Navalny to serve 2 ½ years in prison
June 2021 — A Moscow court shuts down Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and his extended political network
Feb 2022 — Russia invades Ukraine
March 2022 — Navalny is sentenced to an additional nine-year term for embezzlement and contempt of court
2023 — Over 400 Russian doctors sign an open letter to Putin, urging an end to what it calls abuse of Navalny, following reports that he was denied basic medication & suffering from slow poisoning
April, 2023 — Navalny from inside prison says he was facing new extremism and terrorism charges that could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life
Aug 2023 – A court in Russia extends Navalny’s prison sentence by 19 years
Dec 2023 – He disappears from his prison as his team fear he could be assassination. He then reappears weeks later in one of Siberia’s toughest prisons – the ‘Polar Wolf’ colony
