.A video emerged Friday showing Alexei Navalny, a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, appearing in court just a day earlier. Russian authorities He is said to have fallen to his death in a penal colony in Siberia.
Footage shared by Russian news outlet SOTAvision shows the 47-year-old smiling and cheerful behind bars at the IK-3 panel colony, also known as “Polar Wolf,” in Kharp, northern Russia. According to The Associated Press, Navalny appeared before Russia’s Supreme Court via video link.
Earlier Friday morning, Russia’s prison agency announced that Navalny felt unwell and had lost consciousness after the walk. An ambulance arrived to try to revive him, but he died, the statement added.
“We have no confirmation of this yet,” Navalny’s spokesperson said in a post on X.“
Russian officials say Putin critic Alexei Navalny has died at the age of 47
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appears in court via video link on Thursday, February 15, 2024, a day before his death in a penal colony in northern Russia. (Russian Federal Penitentiary Service/SOTAvision/AP)
Spokeswoman Kira Yarmish added that “Alexei’s lawyers are on the sly at the moment. As soon as we have some information, we will report on it.”
The killing has been condemned by news outlets. white house, “Whatever story they tell, we must be clear: Russia is responsible,” Vice President Kamala Harris said.
Secretary of State Antony Blanken added on Friday that Navalny’s “death in a Russian prison and the determination and fear of one man only shows the weakness and decay of this system. Putin made it.”
Blanken said that Russia is responsible for this. “We will speak to many other countries concerned about Alexei Navalny, especially if these reports are true.”
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Alexei Navalny used the court appearance to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine in late May 2022. (REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina)
Navalny had previously organized anti-government protests and elected to office to advocate for reforms against allegations of corruption in Russia. He was reportedly the victim of an assassination attempt in 2020, when he was poisoned with a suspected Novichok nerve agent.
He remained in a coma for several weeks while doctors in Germany fought to keep him alive. He accused Putin of being responsible for the poisoning.
Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny takes part in a march in memory of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in Moscow on February 29, 2020. (AP/Pavel Golovkin)
Navalny then returned to Russia in 2021, when authorities immediately arrested him and later sentenced him to 19 years in prison for extremism. His team has repeatedly raised concerns about his treatment since his return, and Navalny said the allegations were politically motivated.