Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died on Friday after collapsing and losing consciousness at a prison where he was serving a long jail term, the Russian prison service said. He had survived a poisoning attack in 2020 and later accused Vladimir Putin of being behind it.
5 Facts About Alexei Navalny:
- Navalny, 47, a former lawyer who rose to prominence more than a decade ago for his criticim of Putin’s elite and voicing allegations of vast corruption, was in a jail about 60 km (40 miles) north of the Arctic Circle.
- Putin’s best-known opponent had been sentenced to stay in jail until he was 74.
- On August 20, 2020, he was hospitalised in Siberia and placed in a medically induced coma after losing consciousness during a flight. Later, tests showed he was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent.
- He earned admiration from the divided Russian opposition for voluntarily returning to Russia in 2021 from Germany where he underwent treatment for poisoning.
- On his return he was jailed. Russia denies Navalny’s claims that Russia’s secret police poisoned him with Novichok.