Navalny's wife on her husband's death: Putin and his entourage must be brought to justice

The wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whose death in prison was reported on 16 February, has stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his associates must be brought to justice for all their crimes. Yulia Navalnaya currently remains uncertain whether to believe the reports of her husband's death.

Source: Navalny's wife, Yulia, during her speech at the Munich Security Conference

Quote: "I'm sure you've all seen the terrible news that's been coming in today. It took a long time for me to decide whether to come out here or head straight to my children. But then I wondered what Alexei would have done in my place. And I'm sure he would have come here. He would be on this stage.

I don't know whether to trust the horrible news that we get only from state-run sources in Russia. For many years, and all of you know this, we have not been able to trust Putin and the Putin government. They always lie.

But if it is true, I want Putin, his entire entourage, Putin's friends, and his government to know that they will be brought to justice for what they have done to our country, to my family and my husband. And that day will come very soon.

I would like to urge the entire international community, everyone in this room, and people worldwide to unite and defeat this evil. Defeat the terrible regime reigning in Russia. Both this regime and Vladimir Putin must be held personally responsible for all the horrible things they have been doing to our country, Russia, in recent years."

Previously: On 16 February, the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation reported the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Correctional facility No 3 of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District of the Russian Federation.

For reference: Navalny, who had been supposedly trying to expose the Russian authorities and had been arrested more than once, was poisoned in Russia with Novichok. On 20 August 2020, he fainted on the plane, was taken to intensive care, and then fell into a coma. Navalny’s life was saved at the German Charité clinic. On 17 January 2021, after coming back from Germany, Navalny was detained. He was accused of failing to fulfil the obligations of a probationer in the Yves Rocher case. And on 2 February 2021, a court in Moscow ruled that Navalny should be imprisoned for more than 2.5 years in connection with the Yves Rocher case. On the same day, people took to the streets across Russia. Within hours, the number of detainees exceeded 1,000.

Background: 

• Alexei Navalny has been imprisoned since early 2021. In August 2023, the Moscow City Court sentenced him to 19 years in prison in a special regime colony in an "extremism" case.
• In December, the opposition leader was transferred to correctional facility No 3 Polyarnyi Volk (Polar Wolf), which is located in the village of Kharp in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
• Correctional facility No 3 "has always served as a colony for particularly dangerous recidivists", the independent Novaya Gazeta wrote in 2006. Platon Lebedev, Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s business partner, served part of his term there.

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