Wednesday, 22 May 2024
Wednesday, 22 May 2024
Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny speaks to the media prior to a court session in Moscow, on Aug. 22, 2019. In December 2017, Russia’s Central Electoral Commission bars him from running for president over his conviction in the Kirovles case, a move condemned by the EU as casting 'serious doubt' on the election. In July, 2019 Members of Navalny’s team, along with other Opposition activists, are barred from running for Moscow city council, sparking protests that are violently dispersed, with thousands arrested.
Russian Opposition activist Alexei Navalny takes part in a march in memory of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in Moscow, Russia on Feb. 29, 2020. On a flight from the city of Tomsk in August 2020, where he was working with local activists, Navalny falls ill and the plane makes an emergency landing in nearby Omsk. Hospitalized in a coma, Navalny’s team suspects he was poisoned.
On January 17, 2021, after five months in Germany, Navalny is arrested upon his return to Russia, with authorities alleging his recuperation abroad violated the terms of his suspended sentence in the Yves Rocher case. His arrest triggers some of the biggest protests in Russia in years. Thousands are arrested.
In March 2023, 'Navalny,' a film about the attempt on the Opposition leader’s life, wins the Oscar for best documentary feature. In 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 after getting the flu. On April 26, 2023 Appearing on a video link from prison during a hearing, Navalny says he was facing new extremism and terrorism charges that could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.
Navalny is convicted of extremism and sentenced to 19 years in August 2023, and he says he understands he’s 'serving a life sentence, which is measured by the length of my life or the length of life of this regime.' In January 2024, at an hearing, Navalny cracks jokes about Arctic weather and asks if officials at his former prison threw a party when he was transferred. On February 16, 2024 Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service says Navalny died in prison at the age of 47.
