Russia's famous opposition leader, Putin's biggest opponent, Navalny, died at the age of 47.
In the months leading up to his death, he was imprisoned in the form of video recordings of various trial hearings about him.
During the hearing, he mocked Putin as an "old man hiding in a bunker" and denounced Putin's Russia-Ukraine war as "the stupidest and most senseless war of the 21st century."
On February 1, his team issued a message calling on Russians to hold demonstrations against Putin during the presidential election in March.
Although Navalny is well-educated in finance and law, unlike other Russian politicians, he often swears and hardly wears a suit. Although he worked as a radio host, he barely appeared on major television channels.
Navalny's main front is on the Internet and social media. Each of his articles has been read by more than one million.
Born in 1976 on the outskirts of Moscow, Navalny worked as a lawyer, a presenter and several start-ups after graduating from university, all of which ended in failure.
In 2000, Navalny joined Yabolu (United Democratic Party of Russia), a liberal party in Russia. Soon after Putin came to power, this party was marginalized.
After joining Yabolu, Navalny gradually showed his radical side. In 2004, he founded a non-governmental organization with the aim of protecting people's rights, and used the contacts and channels he had established during his business years to unearth and expose many insider information about official corruption and collusion between government and business.
This behavior gradually gained him a certain popularity, but at the same time, he was also regarded as a thorn in the side of some. In 2007, Yabolu expelled Navalny for "causing political damage to the party."
After his expulsion, Navalny founded the "People's Movement" to further point the finger at corruption in the government and state-owned enterprises. He also established an anti-corruption foundation dedicated to investigating corruption.
A number of bizarre procurement projects by local governments and officials have been dug up.
For example, a local magistrate purchased 30 gold watches with diamonds with public funds, which are said to be awarded to outstanding local teachers. The authorities in St. Petersburg ordered a batch of mink coats worth 2 million rubles, citing the need to comfort patients in psychiatric hospitals, etc.
In 2010, Navalny also caused a stir in Russia by publishing evidence that a Russian state-owned company had embezzled $4 billion.
December 4, 2011, elections to the State Duma of Russia. Putin's United Russia party has been exposed to a scandal of large-scale fraud. Navalny angrily denounced United Russia online as "a party of thieves and liars."
The slogan "Party of thieves and liars" struck a chord with many Russians. On that day, 7,000 citizens of Moscow took to the streets to demand new elections.
Putin was dismissive of this, responding in a television episode that the protesters were "unruly monkeys" and that the protests, marked by white ribbons, were "floating condoms."
In December of that year, Navalny was arrested while leading a group of protesters and sentenced to half a month in prison for obstructing the execution of justice. A large number of his supporters kept vigil for him outside the prison, and protests against Putin spread from Moscow to more than 70 cities.
The Russian authorities may have thought that Navalny's detention for half a month was a lesson for him, but Navalny did not "remember it for a long time".
After his release from prison, Navalny became the head of the protest committee and organized one of the largest demonstrations in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union:
More than 100,000 citizens of Moscow gathered and chanted the slogan "Russia does not need Putin". Protests were held in 150 cities across Russia.
Since this protest, Navalny has become one of the main leaders of the opposition and has been active at the forefront of the fight against the Russian government.
In August 2020, Navalny suddenly developed "symptoms of poisoning" on his way to Moscow on a plane and was rushed to Germany for treatment. Later, the German government issued a statement saying that Navalny had been hit by a military nerve agent called "Novichok", which was a deliberate murder.
Whether the poisoning was a real event or whether Navalny directed and acted on his own has been debated. But Putin has been pushed to the forefront of public opinion because of this.
While Navalny was being treated in Germany, the Russian Federal Security Intelligence Service issued an arrest warrant for him. On January 17, 2021, Navalny returned to Russia from Germany despite the threat of imprisonment, and was subsequently arrested and charged with "insulting judges", "defaming veterans", "vandalism and squandering donations", and other crimes.
On February 16, 20204, the Russian Prison Service announced that Navalny had died in prison.
Navalny's wife, Julia, spoke out:
I hope that Putin, and all those around him, will be punished for what my husband has done, and I want to call on all the people of the world to unite and fight against this "evil" force!
#胡锡进谈纳瓦利内狱中死亡##克宫: Putin is aware of Navalny's death##