Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny died Friday within the Arctic jail colony the place he was serving a 19-year jail sentence, Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service stated.
Navalny misplaced consciousness after going for a stroll and couldn’t be resuscitated by medics, the jail service stated.
“Navalny felt unhealthy after a stroll and misplaced consciousness virtually instantly. Medical personnel arrived instantly and an ambulance staff was referred to as,” the report stated.
“Resuscitation measures have been carried out that didn’t yield optimistic outcomes. Paramedics confirmed the loss of life of the convict. The causes of loss of life are being decided.”
Russia's Investigative Committee stated it had opened an investigation into his loss of life.
Navalny's press secretary Kira Yarmysh stated his staff had not been knowledgeable of his loss of life.
“Alexei's lawyer is now flying to Kharp,” the place his jail colony is, she stated in a social media put up.
Citing his spokesman, Russian information companies reported that President Vladimir Putin had been knowledgeable of Navalny's loss of life.
The 47-year-old Navalny, Russia's most outstanding opposition chief, gained a number of assist for his criticism of corruption in Vladimir Putin's Russia.
His revelations, posted on his YouTube channel, have been considered tens of millions of occasions and introduced tens of hundreds of Russians to the streets, regardless of Russia's strict anti-protest legal guidelines.
He was jailed in early 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, the place he was recovering from a near-fatal poisoning assault with Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent.
In a sequence of circumstances, he was sentenced to 19 years in jail on fees that have been extensively condemned by impartial rights teams and within the West in retaliation for his opposition to the Kremlin.
Late final yr he was transferred to a distant Arctic jail colony in Russia's Yamalo-Nenets area of northern Siberia.
The final message on Navalny's Telegram channel, which he managed by way of his legal professionals and staff in exile, was a tribute to his spouse, Yulia Navalnaya, posted on Valentine's Day.
