Alexei Navalny, the embattled Putin critic, now reported dead: What you need to know

All You Need To Know About Alexei Navalny: Russia's most prominent opposition leader Alexei Navalny reportedly died on Friday (Feb 16), Russian state media reported citing prison officials. He has been hailed as the most prominent figure in Russia’s splintered opposition. His supporters looked at him as the Russian version of South Africa's Nelson Mandela who will one day walk free out of jail to lead the nation.

About Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny rose to prominence by writing hard-hitting columns against Russian President Vladimir Putin as a lawyer. In his blogs, Navalny would expose vast corruption among the Russian elites and claim the country was being ruled by "crooks and thieves".

Some called him overtly nationalist. He would march in Russian nationalist marches in the 2000s. His vehement opposition to migration and support for nationalistic movement prompted his expulsion from the liberal opposition party Yabloko in 2007.

But that did not deter him from continuing his perilous journey of standing up to the most powerful leader in the nation.

He would highlight the lavish lifestyle of top Russian leaders and would use the internet and drones to illustrate the vast holdings and luxury properties of the elites.

It was in 2011 when Navalny was arrested by Russian authorities for alleging fraud in the 2011 parliamentary elections that saw Putin’s party register a landslide victory.

The infamous poisoning of Alexei Navalny

In August 2020, Navalny was flying from Tomsk, in Siberia, to Moscow when he fell critically ill, leading to an emergency landing of the flight.

Navalny was flown to Germany where he was treated for the effects of a neurotoxin that German military tests showed to be Novichok, a poison developed in the Soviet Union.

Later, a joint media investigation identified a team of assassins reportedly linked to Russia's FSB security service. Putin dismissed the investigation as a smear, saying: "If someone had wanted to poison him, they would have finished him off."

Alexei Navalny returns to Russia

In a bold and voluntary move, Navalny chose to return to his homeland on January 17, 2021. There, he was arrested almost immediately, before a court handed him an imprisonment sentence of 2 years and 6 months for “violating the terms of a suspended sentence” by failing to report to his probation officer while receiving life-saving treatment in Germany. 

Later, in February 2022, Alexei Navalny was charged with fraud and in March 2022 sentenced to a nine-year prison term in a strict regime penal colony.

In May 2022, he faced more charges, that critics dubbed as politically motivated. He was accused of founding an extremist community.

Later in June, he was transferred to the strict regime penal colony, where he said he was kept in a “prison within prison” and forced to work while sitting on a low stool, which risked exacerbating his health problems.

"If they decide to kill me then it means we are incredibly strong and we need to use that power and not give up," Alexei Navalny said in an interview with CNN.

"We don't realise how strong we actually are," he added.

(With inputs from agencies)