Opposition leader and Putin skeptic Alexei Navalny passes away in custody

Opposition leader and Putin skeptic Alexei Navalny passes away in custody

Alexei Navalny passed out on a stroll, according to the prison service, and medical personnel were unable to bring him back to consciousness.

MOSCOW: According to Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service, opposition leader Alexei Navalny passed away on Friday while incarcerated for 19 years in the Arctic prison colony.

After going on a stroll, Navalny collapsed, according to the prison service, and medical personnel were unable to bring him back to consciousness.

"Navanthropy felt sick after the trek and almost passed out right away. An ambulance crew was contacted and medical personnel showed there very away," the statement said.

Despite the use of resuscitation techniques, the outcome was unsuccessful. Paramedics verified the prisoner's passing. We are determining the reasons of death.

The Investigative Committee of Russia said that it has begun looking into his passing.

Kira Yarmysh, Navalny's press secretary, said that his staff was unaware of his passing.

He said on social media, "Alexey's lawyers are now flying to Kharap," the location of his prison colony.

According to his spokeswoman, President Vladimir Putin has been notified of Navalny's passing, according to Russian news media.

Criticizing corruption in Vladimir Putin's Russia, 47-year-old Navalny became the most well-known opposition figure in Russia.

Thousands of Russians took to the streets after his exposé, which he shared on his YouTube channel, attracted millions of views despite the country's severe anti-protest laws.

After returning to Russia from Germany, where he was recuperating from a nearly deadly nerve agent poisoning attack using Novichok from the Soviet period, he was imprisoned in the beginning of 2021.

Frequently, he received 19-year jail sentences for offenses strongly denounced by Western and independent human rights organizations as reprisals for his defiance of the Kremlin.

His relocation to an isolated Arctic prison colony in northern Siberia's Yamalo-Nenets region occurred towards the end of the previous year.

Valentine's Day saw the most recent message on Navalny's Telegram channel, which he ran in exile with the help of his team and attorneys, paying homage to his late wife Yulia Navalnaya.