Alexei Navalny is seen smiling in prison a day before his death.
SOTA/X
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny died suddenly in prison.Navalny was seen healthy and laughing in a court appearance a day before his death.Navalny was widely considered to be Vladimir Putin’s most formidable enemy.
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny appeared healthy and in good spirits during a court appearance just one day before his sudden death in prison, according to a video.
In footage by Russian news outlet SOTA and shared by Reuters, Navalny is seen cracking jokes with a judge in what is believed to be his last court hearing before his death.
“Your honor, I will send you my personal account number so that you can use your huge federal judge’s salary to fuel my personal account because I am running out of money, and thanks to your decisions, it will run out even faster,” he said while laughing, according to a translation by Reuters.
Navalny was in a similar upbeat mood in January court appearance shown via video link, according to Reuters.
At the hearing, Navalny cracked jokes in his usual sardonic tone about the Arctic weather. He also asked if officials at his former prison threw a party when he was transferred, the report said.
Russia’s prison agency announced the sudden death of Navalny, who was considered one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s greatest rivals, on Friday. He was 47.
A statement said Navalny felt unwell after taking a walk and almost immediately lost consciousness. Medics were called and tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead. It did not explain further.
While his cause of death has not yet been confirmed, many are holding Putin accountable.
Charles Michel, president of the European Council, said in a statement that the “EU holds the Russian regime for sole responsible for this tragic death.”
Navalny’s chief of staff, Leonid Volkov, wrote on X: “Russian authorities publish a confession that they killed Alexey Navalny in prison. We do not have any way to confirm it or to prove this isn’t true.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media that Putin had been informed of Navalny’s death but had no further information.
Navalny was serving a 19-year prison sentence in a facility around 40 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The sentence was widely regarded as punishment for his public opposition and criticism of Putin.
He began his career as an anti-corruption blogger before carving his own path as an independent politician who was outspoken against Putin and organized protests against the Kremlin.