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Tag: Alexei Navalny

  • Wife Of Russian Opposition Leader Navalny Says He Was Killed By Poisoning

    Wife Of Russian Opposition Leader Navalny Says He Was Killed By Poisoning

    The wife of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny on Wednesday (September 17) said that lab tests conducted on biological samples secretly taken from him reveal he was poisoned while imprisoned in a remote Arctic facility in February 2024.

    Navalny, a leading critic of President Vladimir Putin, died under suspicious circumstances during a 19-year prison term, which many view as political retaliation.

    Known for exposing corruption in Putin’s circle and mobilising mass protests, Navalny’s demise has remained unexplained by Russian authorities, who claim he suddenly fell ill during a prison yard walk on February 16.

    Before the burial, Yulia Navalnaya revealed that Navalny’s supporters managed to discreetly send biological samples abroad for testing.

    “The labs in two countries concluded that Alexei was deliberately poisoned,” she said in a social media video.

    Though she did not disclose the specifics of the samples or the poison identified, she called on the laboratories to publicly confirm their findings and name the toxin.

    Navalnaya also shared unverified images purportedly showing Navalny’s prison cell after his body was taken away, highlighting a visible pool of vomit and citing prison staff accounts describing seizures.

    Navalny had previously survived a Novichok nerve agent poisoning in 2020 during a Siberian campaign tour, after which he was flown to Germany for recovery.

    Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny Photograph: (AFP)
    Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny Photograph: (AFP)

    He was imprisoned upon his return to Russia in 2021 on charges widely regarded as politically motivated.

    While incarcerated, Navalny continued his anti-Putin activism and condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine. Officials say he died suddenly after falling ill during an outdoor walk.

    Delays in releasing his body to his family raised further doubts among supporters. Navalnaya maintains Putin ordered her husband’s assassination, an allegation the Kremlin denies.

    Since Navalny’s death, the government intensified repression of his associates, branding his wife a “terrorist and extremist,” and imprisoning his lawyers and journalists covering his cases.

    Many of Navalny’s relatives and key supporters have fled Russia. The opposition, weakened by internal divisions, struggles to maintain influence in exile.

  • Russia Jails Three Lawyers Who Represented The Late Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny

    Russia Jails Three Lawyers Who Represented The Late Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny

    Three lawyers who once represented the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were jailed Friday in Russia as part of the Kremlin’s crackdown on dissent that has reached levels unseen since Soviet times.

    Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Liptser were jailed from 3 1/2 to five years by a court in the town of Petushki, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Moscow. They were arrested in October 2023 on charges of involvement with extremist groups, as Navalny’s networks were deemed by authorities.

    The case was widely seen as a way to increase pressure on the opposition to discourage defense lawyers from taking political cases.

    At the time, Navalny was serving a 19-year prison term on several criminal convictions, including extremism. He died in a Russian prison camp in February 2023.

    The independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that Kobzev said in his final statement in court on Jan. 10 that “we are being tried for transmitting Navalny’s thoughts to other people.”

    Navalny’s networks were deemed extremist following a 2021 ruling that outlawed his organizations — the Foundation for Fighting Corruption and a network of regional offices — as extremist groups.

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    That ruling, which exposed anyone involved with the organizations to prosecution, was condemned by Kremlin critics as politically motivated and designed to stifle Navalny’s activities.

    According to Navalny’s allies, authorities accused the lawyers of using their position to pass information from him to his team.

    Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner and outspoken opponent of President Vladimir Putin, was arrested in 2021 upon his return from Germany, where he was recuperating from a nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin. He was ordered to serve 2 1/2 years in prison.

    After two more trials, his sentence was extended to 19 years. He and his allies said the charges were politically motivated and accused the Kremlin of seeking to jail him for life.

    In December 2023, Navalny was moved from a penal colony in the Vladimir region east of Moscow to one above the Arctic Circle, where he died in February at the age of 47 under still-unexplained circumstances. His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, and members of his team alleged he was killed on orders from the Kremlin. Officials have rejected the accusation.

    Two other Navalny lawyers, Olga Mikhailova and Alexander Fedulov, are on a wanted list but no longer live in Russia. Mikhailova, who defended Navalny for a decade, said she was charged in absentia with extremism.

    Kobzev, Liptser and Sergunin have been deemed to be political prisoners, according to human rights advocates from Memorial, Russia’s most prominent rights group that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. The group demands their immediate release.

    (AP)