16 February 2024 , 15:44
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Alexei Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya has broken her silence following reports that her opposition politician husband died in prison.
Russia's federal prison service has said in a statement that Alexei — President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent and a fierce critic of his war in Ukraine — became unwell after a walk on Friday and "lost consciousness." An ambulance arrived, but Alexei died despite attempts to resuscitate him, the agency said.
Alexei's exiled team of supporters had “no confirmation of this for now”, his spokesperson Kira Yarmysh wrote on X. She said a lawyer for Navalny, 47, was travelling to the remote prison colony where he was transferred last year. World leaders and Russian opposition activists wasted no time Friday in blaming the reported death of the imprisoned opposition leader on President Vladimir Putin and his government.
Speaking in Russian at the Munich Security Conference, Alexei's wife said she did not know whether to believe the "terrible" news as it has only come from state sources in Russia and added Putin and his government are "always lying". But, she continued, if it is true, she "would like Putin and all his coterie, Putin's friends, his government" to know that they will be accountable for what they've done to "our country, to my family, and to my husband. They will be liable for that. That day will come very soon."
She continued: "Thank you for the conference organisers that gave me the main stage. You have all probably seen the terrible news that came in today. I thought for a long time: 'Is it worth me to come here or to fly to my children straight away?' But then I thought: 'What would Alexei do in my place?' And I'm confident that he would be here, he would be on this stage."
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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (AFP via Getty Images)"I would like to call upon the global community, everyone in this room, people around the world, that we would unite together and overcome that evil, overcome that terrible regime that is currently in Russia. That regime and Vladimir Putin have to be personally liable for all the horrible things they are doing to my country, to our country Russia in the last years."
The 47-year-old was serving a 19-year prison sentence on extremism charges in a remote penal colony above the Artic Circle at the time of his death. He has been behind bars since he returned from Germany in January 2021, serving time on various charges that he rejected as a politically motivated effort to keep him imprisoned for life. The outpouring of sympathy for Navalny's family and outrage at the Kremlin, which in recent years mounted an unprecedented crackdown on dissent, came from all over the world.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Navalny's death showed that “Putin fears nothing more than dissent from his own people.” She called it “a grim reminder of what Putin and his regime are all about,” and added that it should provide added impetus to “unite in our fight to safeguard the freedom and safety of those who dare to stand up against autocracy.” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia has questions to answer if the reports are true.