NEW DELHI:
Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny
is
dead
, the
prison service
of the
Yamalo-Nenets region
where he had been serving his
sentence
said on Friday.
In a statement published on its website, the
Federal Penitentiary Service
of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District said that Navalny “felt unwell” after a walk on Friday, and “almost immediately lost consciousness”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Russia’s penitentiary service was making all checks regarding the death of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but that he had no information about the matter.
Kremlin spokesman also said that Russian president Vladimir Putin was informed about Navalny’s death
Navalny, 47, a former lawyer who rose to prominence more than a decade ago by lampooning Putin’s elite and voicing allegations of vast corruption, is currently in a jail about 60 km (40 miles) north of the Arctic Circle.
Navalny was first jailed after surviving an attempt to assassinate him by poisoning.
A court extended his sentence to 19 years on extremism charges, and ruled that he be moved to a more secure, harsher prison
