Alexei Navalny, who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests as President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, died Friday in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence, Russia’s prison agency said.
People laid flowers at monuments to victims of Soviet-era political repressions in Moscow and other cities across Russia. The cause of his death was reported by authorities as "sudden death syndrome." I Photo: Gesanonstein Wikimedia Commons
He was 47, Jim Heintz reported for the Associated Press (AP).
The stunning news — less than a month before an election that will give Putin another six years in power — brought renewed criticism and outrage directed at the Kremlin leader who has cracked down on all opposition at home.
People laid flowers at monuments to victims of Soviet-era political repressions in Moscow and other cities across Russia, but there was no indication that Navalny’s death would spark large protests.
Navalny felt unwell after a walk Friday, according to the Federal Penitentiary Service, and lost consciousness. World leaders immediately tagged Putin as Navalny’s murderer.
A former lawyer, Navalny rose to prominence with blogs that exposed what he said was vast corruption across the Russian elite, describing Russia as ruled by "crooks and thieves," Guy Faylconbridge reported for Reuters.
He participated in Russian nationalist marches in the 2000s. Calls for restrictions on immigration and criticism over what some viewed as his overly nationalist views prompted his expulsion from the liberal Yabloko opposition party in 2007.
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