Russia announces death of opposition leader Alexey Navalny in prison
Al Jazeera
Prison service says the Putin critic collapsed and lost consciousness after a walk in a remote penal colony.
Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has died, state media reported, citing the prison service of the region where he had been serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism.
There was no immediate confirmation of the 47-year-old’s death from his team on Friday.
Navalny spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said his lawyer was travelling to the remote prison colony north of the Arctic Circle, but later expressed that there was “almost no hope” that Navalny is alive.
In a statement quoted by state media, the federal prison service said Navalny “felt bad” after a walk and lost consciousness “almost immediately”.
Navalny was in the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenets region, about 1,900km (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow, where he was transferred in December.