Dissident Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died in prison.
The announcement was made by the Russian National Penitentiary Service.
He had been detained since January 2021.
Video January 10: Navalny reappears via video link for a hearing
He had been placed in solitary confinement for the 27th time
The Russian dissident and opponent Alexey Navalny had once again been locked up in a punishment cell, for the 27th time since August 2022: his spokesperson Kira Yarmish reported it, reported by the online newspaper Meduza, specifying that at the end of the 15 days of isolation inflicted on him, Navalny will have spent 308 days in a cramped penalty cell in the last year and a half.
And the official reason for the punishment is unclear.
The opponent, in prison for political reasons, denounced several serious abuses in these three years of imprisonment and that he was continuously locked up in an isolation cell with the most absurd pretexts, such as having washed his face a little before the set time or having a button undone.
A situation already highlighted by Amnesty International, which accused the management of the Melekhovo prison - where the dissident was previously imprisoned - of wanting to "break Navalny's spirit by making his existence in the penal colony unbearable, humiliating and dehumanising".
For almost the entire month of December, Navalny's whereabouts were unknown.
On December 6, his staff reported having lost contact with him and on December 11, his spokeswoman announced that, according to the Melekhovo detention center, the dissident was no longer there.
Only at the end of the month, the authorities announced that Navalny had been transferred to the remote "Polar Wolf" special regime penal colony, beyond the Arctic Circle.
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