Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny Left A Powerful Message For Russians In The Case He Was Killed
“If they decide to kill me, it means that we are incredibly strong.”
A video of Russia’s main opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, telling people not to give up in the event he is killed is going viral after Russian state media reported that Navalny had died in prison.
The 47-year-old, who was Russian president Vladimir Putin’s biggesr critic, died on Friday Feb. 16 in a remote Arctic prison after collapsing and losing consciousness following a morning walk, according to Russian state media.
His death was confirmed by his team on Saturday Feb. 17.
Since then, a clip from the end of the 2022 eponymous documentary “Navalny” about his life and poisoning has started circulating online.
In it, Navalny is asked about his message for the Russian people in the event that he is killed.
“Listen, I’ve got something very obvious to tell you,” Navalny said to the camera. “If they decide to kill me, it means that we are incredibly strong.”
“We need to utilize this power,” he added.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. So don’t be inactive,” he said before smiling at the camera.
Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, said that Navalny, who had been serving a 19 year sentence for “promoting extremism” died at 14:17 local time according to a document that authorities gave his mother, but added that there was no cause of death.
Navalny’s team has called for his body to be immediately returned to his family but said that Russian investigations said they won’t do so until they finish an investigation.
Yarmysh said that Navalny’s mother and lawyer had traveled to the morgue but his body was not there.
Navalny’s team say the Russian authorities are refusing to return his body to his family to “cover traces.”
“We know for sure that it wasn’t just a death, it was a murder,” Yarmysh told the BBC, saying that she and the team believe that Putin had ordered Navalny’s murder.
Following the news of Navalny’s death, protests broke out across multiple cities in Russia, as well as across around the world, as people gathered to hold vigils and demand justice for Navalny.
Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, appeared just hours after news of his death was first announced, giving a powerful, emotional speech at a security conference in Munich, Germany, where she said that Putin and his regime must be held accountable if her husband was really dead.
