Alexei Navalny is dead: Kremlin opponent dies in prison at the age of 47

SUEDWEST Press Alexei Navalny is dead: Kremlin opponent dies in prison at the age of 47 Russian Putin enemy and Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny is dead. The 47-year-old has been in prison for several years. February 16, 2024, 1:05 p.m. •Moscow An article by Daniel Steiger Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny is dead. The AFP news agency reported on Friday that the imprisoned Putin critic is said to have died in prison. Russian agencies are said to have reported this previously. Navalny was only 47 years old. Russia's most prominent Kremlin critic died on February 16 in the penal colony in Russia's polar region, prison authorities said. What is known about the cause of Alexei Navalny's death The reasons for his death are being investigated, it said. There is currently no further information about the exact background or cause of death. Der Spiegel reports, with reference to the Telegram channels 112 and RT, that a blood clot is said to have been the cause of Navalny's death. Navalny “felt bad after a walk and almost immediately lost consciousness,” the FSIN penitentiary agency said. Medical staff were on the scene immediately and an ambulance was also called. “Resuscitation measures were carried out, which did not produce positive results,” FSIN further stated. Alexei Navalny was the man with the loudest voice in Russia against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Navalny had already had to pay a high price for organizing huge protests against the Kremlin: he had been imprisoned several times, was most recently in a prison camp, and survived a poison attack... Russian President Vladimir Putin was “informed” of the opposition figure’s death, a Kremlin spokesman said. Why Navalny was in prison Navalny was sentenced to a total of 19 years in a camp for alleged “extremism,” among other things. Internationally, however, the politician, who narrowly survived an assassination attempt with the nerve agent Novichok in 2020, was classified as a political prisoner. Human rights organizations have long called for Navalny's release. After being treated in Germany for the consequences of the poison attack, Navalny returned to Russia on January 17, 2021 - and was arrested at the airport. The politician, who was classified as a political prisoner, had already disappeared for several weeks last December. It later turned out that the justice system had moved him from the European part of Russia to a prison camp in the far north of Siberia. Navalny suspected that he should be as isolated as possible there before the upcoming presidential election in March. (with material from AFP and dpa)