Prominent Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny died on Friday, February 16, in a prison where he was serving a 19-year jail term on extremism charges, multiple news outlets reported, citing the country’s penitentiary service as saying in a statement.
He was 47.
In a statement on quoted by state media, the service said Navalny “felt bad” after a walk and lost consciousness “almost immediately”.
It added: “Medical staff arrived immediately, and an ambulance team was called. Resuscitation measures were carried out, which did not yield positive results. Paramedics confirmed the death of the convict. The causes of death are being established.”
The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had been informed of Navalny’s death.
The official cause of death was not immediately announced.
Navalny, a fierce critic of Putin, had been imprisoned in early 2021 when he returned to Russia after recovering in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
Before he was arrested, he led campaigns against corruption and organised major anti-Kremlin protests.
Jailed on charges of extremism, he saw his sentence extended to 19 years in 2023.
European Union commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on X that she was “disturbed and saddened by news of the death of Alexei Navalny”.
“Putin fears nothing more than dissent from his own people. A grim reminder of what Putin and his regime are all about,” she added.
Additional reporting by Al Jazeera and others
