The longtime Russian opposition politician and critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin, Alexei Navalny, has died in prison.
According to the Russia’s prison service of Yamalo-Nenets region where Navalny had been serving his sentence, the incident occured on Friday 16th February 2024.
Alexei Navalny was known for his staunch opposition to long-term Russian leader Valdimir Putin Russian.
It is a big surprise when it is announced by the country’s prison service that Russian President opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died in jail.
The Russian’s prison service has stated he died after collapsing and losing consciousness at the penal colony north of the Arctic Circle where he was serving a long jail term. Prison service further said that he “felt unwell” after a walk and lost consciousness almost immediately.
It should be recalled that the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny had been in prison since returning to the country in January 2021.
Navalny was one of Putin’s most visible and persistent critics. He was being held in a jail in Arctic Circle where he had been sentenced to 19 years under a ‘special regime’.
Nevertheless, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul has reacted to a report from the Russian Prison Service that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died in prison at the age of 47.
Michael McFaul said “Putin killed Navalny. Let’s be crystal clear about that.”
However, Kremlin says President Putin has been informed of Alexei Navalny’s death. But Navalny’s team says it has not yet received direct confirmation of his death.
Meanwhile, Leonid Solovyov, one of Navalny’s lawyers, told the independent Novaya Gazeta paper that the Kremlin critic was “normal” when a lawyer saw him on Wednesday.
“On the decision of Alexey Navalny’s family, I won’t make any comments at all. We are now sorting things out. Alexei’s lawyer was with him on Wednesday. Everything was normal then,” he said.
According to Aljazeera News, “Navalny aide Leonid Volkov posted on X: “Russian authorities publish a confession that they killed Alexei Navalny in prison. We do not have any way to confirm it or to prove this isn’t true.”
Lyudmila Navalnaya, Navalny’s mother, was quoted by Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta as saying that her son had been “alive, healthy and happy” when she last saw him on February 12.
“I don’t want to hear any condolences. We saw him in prison on the [February] 12, in a meeting. He was alive, healthy and happy,” she wrote in a Facebook post on Friday”.
Read Also: Reason Why Nigeria And Saudi Arabia May Become Enemies Before End Of 2023
Dozens Die As Army Mistakenly Bombed Nigerian Village During Religious Celebration
Easiest Tips To Verify Your Site With Google Search Console
A-Z Steps To Run A Successful Google Ads
Sources: New York Post
