Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, died at the age of 47 in the Siberian prison where he was being held, the prison services announced Friday.
In a statement, the federal penitentiary service for the region where Navalny was incarcerated said that he “felt unwell after a walk and almost immediately lost consciousness”.
“All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out but did not yield positive results,” the statement said. “The paramedics confirmed the death of the convict.”
The cause of death had not been established, the penitentiary service said. Last year Navalny was treated in hospital after complaining of malnourishment and other ailments due to mistreatment in prison.
He is survived by his wife, Yulia Navalnaya. Here’s what we know about his marriage at the time of his death.
Who is Alexei Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya?
Yulia Navalnaya is the wife of Russia’s former opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The politician was the most prominent critic of Vladimir Putin’s regime.
She has been described by some as the “First Lady” of the Russian opposition.
She was born on July 24, 1976, in Moscow, then the capital of the USSR, and graduated from the Faculty of International Economic Relations of the Plekhanov Russian Economic Academy.
Her father is the respected scientist Boris Alexandrovich Abrosimov and her mother worked for the Ministry of Energy.
They divorced when their daughter was in fifth grade.
She is devoted to her husband who was serving a three-and-a-half year sentence for breaking bail conditions, before being given a nine year term for contempt of court and fraud in March 22, 2022.
His new sentence — which was condemned by Amnesty International — will replace his earlier term, and will mean he will serve around seven years in a much more remote location.
After demanding she be present at his trial, a video link showed Yulia and her husband having their first embrace in months.
When did Alexei Navalny marry Yulia Navalnaya
Yulia met Alexei, a lawyer from Moscow, during a 1998 holiday in Turkey.
They married two years later.
The couple celebrated their 20th anniversary in August 2020 while Navalny was in a coma in Germany, having been poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent.
What is Yulia Navalnaya’s occupation?
Yulia was an economist and worked for numerous Russian banks, before becoming her husband’s personal assistant.
She is also a homemaker for their family.
After Navalny fell violently ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow, she went to great lengths to get him transferred by medical aircraft to Germany.
While her husband fought for his life in a Berlin hospital, she regularly briefed journalists on his condition.
Among the first words after waking from his coma, Navalny said: “Yulia, you saved me.”
She has been a staunch and constant supporter of her husband.
In February 2021, Yulia was ordered to pay a fine of 20,000 roubles (£192.33) after attending a protest in Moscow demanding her husband’s release from prison.
Over 5,400 were detained at the protest, where police used stun guns and physical force against people who were protesting peacefully.
Navalny was taken away by cops after landing in Russia on January 17, 2021.
Yulia had previously been released from jail after being held along with 950 people in Moscow after a protest on January 24, 2021.
How many children does Alexei Navalny have?
Alexei Navalny has two children.
Daughter Daria was born in 2001 and son Zakhar in 2008.
In 2021, Daria accepted the Sakharov Prize at the European Parliament on her father’s behalf.
The award is the European Union’s most prestigious gong for the defence of human rights.
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