Russian firebrand Navalny knew he would die in prison

The late Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny believed he would die in jail, in keeping with excerpts of his memoir.

The New Yorker journal revealed the excerpts on Friday in anticipation of the discharge of the Patriot on October 22.

Navalny was President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest and most distinguished foe and relentlessly campaigned in opposition to official corruption in Russia.

He died in a distant Arctic jail in February whereas serving a 19-year sentence on a number of costs he mentioned had been politically motivated together with operating an extremist group.

He was jailed after returning in 2021 from Germany the place he was recuperating from a nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin, and was given three jail phrases since.

Russian officers have vehemently denied involvement each within the poisoning and in his dying.

Patriot was introduced in April by writer Alfred A. Knopf who known as it the late politician’s “remaining letter to the world”.

Based on Knopf, Navalny started engaged on the e-book whereas recovering from the poisoning and continued writing it in Russia, each out and in of jail.

In detailing his coping methods whereas imprisoned, Navalny mentioned he would: “think about, as realistically as doable, the worst factor that would occur. After which (…) settle for it”.

For him, this was dying in jail.

“I’ll spend the remainder of my life in jail and die right here,” he wrote on March 22, 2022.

“There is not going to be anyone to say goodbye to … All anniversaries will probably be celebrated with out me. I am going to by no means see my grandchildren.”

Though he had accepted this destiny, Navalny’s memoir conveys a resolute stance in opposition to official corruption in Russia.

“My strategy to the scenario is actually not one in all contemplative passivity. I’m attempting to do every thing I can from right here to place an finish to authoritarianism (or, extra modestly, to contribute to ending it),” he wrote.

In a broadcast excerpt, dated January 17, 2024, a month earlier than his dying, Navalny solutions the query posed by his fellow inmates and jail guards: “why did you come again?”

“I do not wish to hand over my nation or betray it. In case your convictions imply one thing, you should be ready to face up for them and make sacrifices if obligatory,” he wrote.

In addition to capturing the isolation and challenges of his imprisonment, Navalny’s writing is notable additionally for its humour.

The late dissident recounts a wager along with his attorneys over the size of a brand new jail sentence: “Olga reckoned eleven to fifteen years. Vadim stunned everybody along with his prediction of exactly twelve years and 6 months. I guessed seven to eight years and was the winner”.

He additionally marvelled on the absurdity of being made to sit down for “hours on a wood bench below a portrait of Putin” as a “disciplinary exercise”.

Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, mentioned in an announcement the e-book was not solely a testomony “to Alexei’s life, however to his unwavering dedication to the battle in opposition to dictatorship,” including that sharing his story would encourage others to face up for what is true and to by no means lose sight of the values that actually matter.

She additionally mentioned the memoir was already translated into 11 languages and would “positively” be revealed in Russian.