Russia’s prison service says, jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny (47) has died in a maximum-security prison in the country’s far north.
Russia’s Federal Prison Service said in a statement that Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent, felt unwell after a walk this morning and lost consciousness.
An ambulance arrived to try to rehabilitate him, but he died. There was no immediate confirmation of Navalny’s death from his team, AFP reports.
“Navalny felt bad after a walk, almost immediately losing consciousness. 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 statement said.
President Vladimir Putin has been informed of Navalny’s death, state news agency TASS reported.
Navalny’s press secretary said on X that she was unable to confirm his death. Kira Yarmysh said that Navalny’s lawyer was travelling to the site of the prison where he had been serving his sentence.
Navalny was being held in a penal colony north of the Arctic Circle. The IK-3 penal colony, located in Kharp in the Yamalo-Nenets region about 1,900 km (1200 miles) northeast of Moscow, is considered to be one of the toughest prisons in Russia. He had been sentenced to 19 years under a “special regime”.
Navalny mobilised huge anti-government protests before being jailed in 2021, after surviving an assassination attempt by poisoning.
He has spent most of his detention at the IK-6 penal colony in the Vladimir region, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) east of Moscow. (The Guardian/AFP)
