Alexei Navalny relentlessly campaigned against official corruption in Russia and he died in a remote Arctic prison in February 2024 while serving a 19-year sentence. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Excerpts of a memoir written by late Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny revealed he believed he would die in prison.

The New Yorker magazine published the excerpts Friday (October 11, 2024) in anticipation of the release of “Patriot” on October 22, 2024.

Navalny was President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest and most prominent foe and relentlessly campaigned against official corruption in Russia. He died in a remote Arctic prison in February 2024 while serving a 19-year sentence on several charges, including running an extremist group, which he said were politically motivated.

He was jailed after returning in 2021 from Germany where he was recuperating from a nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin, and was given three prison terms since. Russian officials have vehemently denied involvement both in the poisoning and in his death.

“Patriot” was announced in April by publisher Alfred A. Knopf, who called it the late politician’s “final letter to the world.”

According to Mr. Knopf, Navalny began working on the book while recovering from the poisoning and continued writing it in Russia, both in and out of prison.

In detailing his coping strategies while imprisoned, Navalny said he would “imagine, as realistically as possible, the worst thing that could happen. And then (…) accept it.” For him, this was dying in prison.

“I will spend the rest of my life in prison and die here,” he wrote on March 22, 2022.

“There will not be anybody to say goodbye to … All anniversaries will be celebrated without me. I’ll never see my grandchildren,” he wrote.

Although he had accepted this fate, Navalny’s memoir conveys a resolute stance against official corruption in Russia.

“My approach to the situation is certainly not one of contemplative passivity. I am trying to do everything I can from here to put an end to authoritarianism (or, more modestly, to contribute to ending it),” he wrote, also on March 22, 2022.

In a published excerpt, dated January 17, 2024, a month before his death, Navalny answers the question posed by his fellow inmates and prison guards: “Why did you come back?”

“I don’t want to give up my country or betray it. If your convictions mean something, you must be prepared to stand up for them and make sacrifices if necessary,” he wrote.

As well as capturing the isolation and challenges of his imprisonment, Navalny’s writing is notable also for its humor. The late dissident recounts a bet with his lawyers over the length of a new prison sentence: “Olga reckoned eleven to fifteen years. Vadim surprised everyone with his prediction of precisely twelve years and six months. I guessed seven to eight years and was the winner.”

He also marveled at the absurdity of being made to sit for “hours on a wooden bench under a portrait of Putin” as a “disciplinary activity.”

Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said in a statement released in April 2024 by the publisher that the book was not only a testament “to Alexei’s life, but to his unwavering commitment to the fight against dictatorship,” adding that sharing his story would “inspire others to stand up for what is right and to never lose sight of the values that truly matter.”

She also said the memoir was already translated into 11 languages and would “definitely” be published in Russian.

General view of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God, where service for Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in a prison camp, is expected to be held in Moscow, Russia on February 29, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The funeral of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is scheduled to be held in Moscow on Friday, with mourners braving the risk of arrest to come and pay their respects.

The ceremony will take place two weeks after Navalny died in an Arctic prison, amid pressures denounced by his team who accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of murdering his top critic.

Mr. Putin, who famously never said Navalny’s name in public, has not commented on the death, which sparked outrage among Western leaders and the Russian opposition.

The religious service will be held at the Mother of God Quench My Sorrows church in Maryino at 2 p.m. (1100 GMT) on the outskirts of Moscow.

In line with Orthodox practices, the body of Navalny — who had embraced Christianity — will be displayed in an open casket.

Two hours later, the burial is set to take place at the Borisovo cemetery, a short walk from the banks of the river Moskva.

Details of the funeral and how many mourners will be allowed to attend are still unclear.

Authorities have not commented on how they will handle the event, which could turn into an embarrassing show of support for Navalny.

Around a dozen police officers already patrolled the cemetery on the eve of the burial, which supporters fear may be disturbed by the Kremlin.

Hopes for peaceful ceremony

They have reasons for concern: 400 mourners have been detained at memorials for Navalny since his death, rights organisation OVD-Info said.

The dissident’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, feared the funeral could be disrupted by further arrests.

“I’m not sure yet whether it will be peaceful or whether the police will arrest those who have come to say goodbye to my husband,” Ms. Navalnaya told the European Parliament.

She has directly blamed Putin for his death.

Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has criticised statements by Navalny’s wife and Western leaders blaming the Russian leader for the death as “vulgar”.

Navalny had shot to prominence through his anti-corruption campaigning, exposing what he said was rampant graft at the top of Putin’s administration.

He was arrested in January 2021 when he returned to Russia after being treated in Germany for a poisoning attack.

“Alexei was tortured for three years,” Navalnaya told lawmakers in Brussels.

“He was starved in a tiny stone cell, cut off from the outside world and denied visits, phone calls, and then even letters.”

“And then they killed him. Even after that, they abused his body,” she said.

‘Chance to say goodbye’

His body was held for eight days, which his team believed to be a bid to cover up responsibility for his death.

Navalny’s family and his team have also accused authorities of trying to prevent him from having a dignified public burial due to fears it could turn into a flashpoint for dissent.

The team alleged local investigators had threatened to bury him on the prison grounds if his mother did not agree to a “secret” funeral.

Once the body was released, allies struggled to find a funeral place that would agree to hold the ceremony.

And on Thursday they said hearse drivers were refusing to take the body from the morgue.

“What a disgrace. Now the hearse drivers refuse to take Alexei from the morgue,” said Ivan Zhdanov, an exiled ally who managed Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.

Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said funeral directors had received threatening calls from “unknown people” warning them not to transport Navalny’s body anywhere.

And a civil ceremony allowing the general public to pay their respects to the body — common in Russia — has not been allowed.

Navalnaya said the family “did not want a special treatment — just to give people the chance to say goodbye”.

She has vowed to continue his life’s work.

“The most important thing we can do for Alexei and for ourselves is to continue to fight more desperately, more fiercely than before,” she said.