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A RUSSIAN rock legend has dedicated a song to the late Alexei Navalny following his death in jail on Friday.
As he performed for a huge crowd in Kazakhstan Yuri Shevchuk made a heartfelt tribute to the fallen anti-corruption activist.
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Reuters
TwitterNavalny was one of Putin’s most outspoken opponents who spent his final moments suffering in a hellhole Arctic prison after he was locked up for three decades last August.
Navalny denied the charges of fraud and contempt of court but was nevertheless handed the devastating sentence which he had served for just two years before his death.
Shevchuk – who is known for being critical of the Vladimir Putin‘s government – addressed his audience saying: “Alexey Navalny, who spoke to us Russians about freedom, has perished.
“He reminded us that we can all become free in the best sense of the word. He said that faith without freedom is fanaticism.
“Labor without freedom is slavery. Nothing exists without freedom!”
The Russian opposition leader did not expect to be released during Putin’s lifetime.
But it would turn out he wouldn’t survive that long.
According to the Russia‘s Federal Penitentiary Service Navalny felt unwell after a walk at the feared “Polar Wolf” jail, and lost consciousness.
An ambulance arrived to try to revive him, but he died. It said the cause of death was “being established”.
Is had now emerged that Navalny’s body was found covered in bruises and being guarded in a morgue amid claims Russia had him killed.
Navalny, 47, has consistent marks that could show he was “murdered” under Vladimir Putin’s chilling regime after it was suggested he suffered a seizure in jail, said paramedics who saw his body.
A medic, who works at the hospital where Navalny’s body was sent, said: “As an experienced paramedic, I can say that the injuries described by those who saw them appeared to be from convulsions.
“If a person is convulsing and others try to hold him down but the convulsions are very strong, then bruising appears.”
There were also signs that someone in the jail tried to save Navalny before he died as there were bruises on his chest showing evidence of CPR.
The paramedic continued: “They still tried to resuscitate him, and he died, most likely, from cardiac arrest. But why this stop happened, no one is saying anything yet.”
Russia gave the official cause of death as “sudden death syndrome” yesterday, say Navalny’s family and lawyer.
His death was confirmed to be at 14.17 local time on February 16, according to a document given to Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya.
Hospital pathologists were allegedly banned from performing an autopsy on his body, the source added.
As soon as his corpse arrived it was quickly transferred to the morgue and two cops were made to stand blocking off the door so no one could look inside, they continued.
The paramedic said: “Everyone wanted to know what had happened, what all the secrecy was about and whether they were trying to hide something serious.”
Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya wrote a message to her husband today in her first social media post since his death.
She posted a photo of them together followed by the heartbreaking caption: “I love you.”
Navalny’s mother went with his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh to say goodbye to his body at a morgue they were told his body was being sent to.
But after arriving they were shocked to find the corpse was missing.
Russian authorities later announced they delayed the release of the body because they hadn’t found the cause of death yet, prominent Navalny ally Ivan Zhdanov said.
Reuters
AP:Associated Press
Navalny died at the ‘Polar Wolf’ prison colony in the ArcticLife of Alexei Navalny
PUTIN'S best known opponent Alexei Navalny, 47, has died in prison.
Here is a timeline that took the leader of the opposition from the face of freedom in Russia and the Kremlin’s biggest foe to a hellhole Siberian prison and onto an early grave.
June 4, 1976 — Navalny is born in a western part of the Moscow region
1997 — Graduates from Russia’s RUDN university, where he majored in law
2004 — Forms a movement against rampant over-development in Moscow
2008 — Gains notoriety for calling out corruption in state-run corporation
December 2011 — Participates in mass protests sparked by reports of widespread rigging of Russia’s election, and is arrested and jailed for 15 days for “defying a government official”
March 2012 – Further mass protests break out and Navalny accuses key Kremlin cronies of corruption
July 2012 — Russia’s Investigative Committee charges Navalny with embezzlement. He rejects the claims and says they are politically motivated
2013 — Navalny runs for mayor in Moscow
July 2013 — A court in Kirov convicts Navalny of embezzlement in the Kirovles case, sentencing him to five years in prison – he appeals and is allowed to continue campaign
September 2013 — Official results show Navalny finishes second in the mayor’s race
February 2014 — Navalny is placed under house arrest
December 2014 — Navalny and his brother, Oleg, are found guilty of fraud
February 2016 — The European Court of Human Rights rules that Russia violated Navalny’s right to a fair trial
November 2016 — Russia’s Supreme Court overturns Navalny’s sentence
December 2016 — Navalny announces he will run in Russia’s 2018 presidential election
February 2017 — The Kirov court retries Navalny and upholds his five-year suspended sentence from 2013
April 2017 – Survives an assassination attempt he blames on Kremlin
December 2017 — Russia’s Central Electoral Commission bars him from running for president
August, 2020 – Navalny falls into a coma on a flight and his team suspects he was poisoned. German authorities confirm he was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent.
Jan 2021 — After five months in Germany, Navalny is arrested upon his return to Russia
Feb 2021 — A Moscow court orders Navalny to serve 2 ½ years in prison
June 2021 — A Mocow court shuts down Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and his extended political network
Feb 2022 — Russia invades Ukraine
March 2022 — Navalny is sentenced to an additional nine-year term for embezzlement and contempt of court
2023 — Over 400 Russian doctors sign an open letter to Putin, urging an end to what it calls abuse of Navalny, following reports that he was denied basic medication & suffering from slow poisoning
April, 2023 — Navalny from inside prison says he was facing new extremism and terrorism charges that could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life
Aug 2023 – A court in Russia extends Navalny’s prison sentence by 19 years
Dec 2023 – He disappears from his prison as his team fear he could be assassination. He then reappears weeks later in one of Siberia’s toughest prisons – the ‘Polar Wolf’ colony
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