Poisoned, imprisoned, convicted and died in prison. Alexeï Navalny paid with his life for his fight against Vladimir Putin, tirelessly denouncing the repression and corruption of his regime, as well as the assault he launched against Ukraine.
Incarcerated since January 2021, last August he was given yet another sentence: 19 years for “extremism” to be spent in one of the harshest establishments in the Russian prison system.
He was transferred at the end of 2023 to a remote penal colony in the Arctic, which announced his death on Friday.
Aged 47, this tall blond with piercing blue eyes appeared thin and aged, although often smiling and cheerful, during the remote broadcasts of the last hearings in which he was involved, the ultimate way for the press to see him.
Imprisoned Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny on a screen via video link from his penal colony during court hearings on the extremism criminal case against him, at the Supreme Court of Russia in Moscow on June 22, 2023 / Natalia KOLESNIKOVA / AFP/Archives
The poisoning he suffered in 2020, a hunger strike and dozens of repeated stays in solitary confinement had left a physical mark on him.
Humor and tenderness
But prison had affected neither his determination nor his humor.
During his last hearing on Thursday, standing in his prison outfit, he burst out laughing while asking the judge to send him money to prison thanks to his “enormous salary as a federal judge.” .
A day earlier, he had sent a message for Valentine’s Day to his wife, Yulia Navalnaïa, a refugee in Europe.
“My dear (…) between us there are cities, the lights of airport runways, blue snowstorms and thousands of kilometers. But I feel that I am close to you, every second, and I I love even harder.”
During his trial for “extremism”, at the beginning of August 2023, he castigated “the stupidest and most senseless war of the 21st century”, referring to the Russian assault against Ukraine.
During his trial for “extremism”, at the beginning of August 2023, he castigated “the stupidest and most senseless war of the 21st century”, referring to the Russian assault against Ukraine.
In his messages, he was ironic about the bullying that the prison administration inflicted on him and also tried to show his support for his comrades in misfortune, imprisoned as a result of the repression.
From abroad, its teams continue to broadcast investigations into the enrichment of political elites, some of whom directly benefit from the conflict in Ukraine.
“Darkness”
Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny at the Moscow court, February 2, 2021 / Handout / Moscow City Court press service/AFP/Archives
The opponent always tried to display a certain optimism. “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.
In a dozen years, lawyer Navalny, who for a time flirted with nationalism, established himself as the number one detractor of Mr. Putin and his “party of thieves and crooks,” as he called it.
He first made himself known by collaborating in the organization of large opposition demonstrations in 2011 and 2012, which were ultimately repressed. In 2013, he came second in the municipal elections in Moscow, a tour de force amplifying his notoriety.
Russian blogger Alexeï Navalny takes part in an opposition demonstration in Moscow, December 5, 2011 / Alexey SAZONOV / AFP/Archives
Harassed by the authorities, ignored by the state media, Alexeï Navalny built a 2.0 notoriety during the 2010s, with the broadcast of viral video investigations denouncing the corruption of Russian power.
On the contrary, Vladimir Putin refuses to even pronounce his name.
Mr. Navalny has managed to build a base among urban and connected Russian youth, but his popularity on a national and transgenerational scale remains very limited.
“Do not abandon”
Among the detractors of Russian power, some still criticized him for his flirtations with the far right or his ambiguity on the 2014 annexation of Ukrainian Crimea by Russia.
Photo posted on September 19, 2020 by Alexeï Navalny on his Instagram account, showing him in a hospital in Berlin / Handout / Instagram account @navalny/AFP/Archives
But his case became a cause for all opponents, NGOs and Westerners when he was poisoned in August 2020 in Siberia, in the middle of the campaign for regional elections.
On the verge of death, he was transferred to Germany for treatment, with the agreement of the Kremlin.
Cured and far from being intimidated, Alexeï Navalny made a big comeback in December 2020 by trapping a Russian agent who admitted, on the telephone, that his poisoning was indeed the work of the secret services.
Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny and his wife Yulia at passport control at Sheremtyevo airport in Moscow, January 17, 2021 / Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP/Archives
In the process, refusing any idea of exile, he returned to Russia on January 17, 2021. As soon as he arrived at the airport, in front of the world’s cameras, he was taken into custody.
Two days later, he carried out another brilliant coup: a video investigation accusing Vladimir Putin of having built a crazy palace on the Black Sea.
The impact is such that the Russian president must personally take charge of the denial.
A person watches an investigative film by Russian opponent Alexei Navalny showing a property on the Black Sea, which he says belongs to Russian President Vladimir Putin, on January 25, 2021 in Moscow / Alexander NEMENOV / AFP/Archives
These successes and the affair of his poisoning did not, however, mobilize the crowds in Russia, the demonstrations being quickly repressed.
The authorities seemed determined to make life impossible for the opponent who, for his part, said he was determined never to give in.
Before his return to Russia, in a documentary about his fishing, he was asked to send a message to the Russians in the event he was killed by Vladimir Putin’s regime.
“Don’t give up,” he said. “We are a huge force under the yoke of bad guys because we don’t realize how strong we are. All evil needs to triumph is the inaction of good people.”
