17-2-2024 (MOSCOW) Navalny Appears in Court the Day Before His Reported Death in Russian Prison (Moscow) – Just one day before the Russian prison authorities announced the death of prominent Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny in a remote penal colony, the opposition leader made a courtroom appearance via a live video link from the prison, appearing cheerful and in good health. Navalny can even be heard joking with the judge in the video.
In a lighthearted manner, Navalny addressed the judge, saying, “Your honor, I will send you my personal account number so that you can use your huge federal judge’s salary to fuel my personal account because I am running out of money, and thanks to your decisions, it will run out even faster.” His smile and demeanor were captured on camera, beaming his image into the Moscow courtroom. “So, send it over.”
Navalny, known for his anti-corruption activism and political opposition against President Vladimir Putin, had survived at least two suspected poisonings throughout his career. However, he tragically passed away in the remote IK-3 penal colony after taking a walk and suddenly feeling unwell, collapsing almost immediately, according to the Office of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. The prison authority stated, “Medical workers from the institution arrived immediately, and an emergency medical team was called. All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out, but did not yield positive results. Emergency doctors confirmed the death of the convict.”
Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, expressed an inability to confirm the information provided by the prison service. She added that Navalny’s lawyer was en route to the remote town of Kharp, where the penal colony is located, and that they would share more information as soon as they received it.
The IK-3 penal colony is situated approximately 1,200 miles from Moscow in Russia’s far north Urals region. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated on Friday that Putin had been informed of Navalny’s death and emphasized that it should be the responsibility of medical professionals to clarify the cause.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken commented on Navalny’s reported death, stating, “For more than a decade, the Russian government, Putin, persecuted, poisoned, and imprisoned Alexei Navalny, and now, reports of his death.” Blinken continued, “If these reports are accurate, our hearts go out to his wife and his family. Beyond that, his death in a Russian prison and the fixation and fear of one man only underscores the weakness and rot at the heart of the system that Putin has built. Russia is responsible for this. We’ll be talking to the many other countries concerned about Alexei Navalny, especially if these reports bear out to be true.”
