Alexey Navalny attends a rally in memory of politician Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated in 2015, in Moscow on Feb. 24, 2019.Tatyana Makeyeva/Reuters
Alexey Navalny, Russia’s top opposition leader and President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, died in prison on Friday, a statement from the Federal Penitentiary Service said.
Navalny, who was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism, felt unwell after a walk and collapsed, it said. The politician’s team had no immediate confirmation of his death.
Navalny was moved in December from his former prison in central Russia to to a “special regime” penal colony – the highest security level of prisons in Russia – above the Arctic Circle.
In a span of a decade, he went from being the Kremlin’s biggest foe to Russia’s most prominent political prisoner.
Here’s a look at key events in Navalny’s life, political activism and the charges he has faced through the years:
Reports of Alexey Navalny’s death a reminder of ‘what a monster Putin is,’ Trudeau says
Video from Thursday, Feb. 15 shows Alexey Navalny in a remote court appearance the day before he was reported dead by Russian authorities.
The Associated Press