“I will die” in prison, Navalny wrote in his memoirs

Photo: David Gannon Agence France-Presse The Kremlin’s main political enemy, Alexei Navalny, died at the age of 47 on February 16 in unclear circumstances, in an Arctic penitentiary where he was subjected to particularly harsh conditions of detention.

Agence France-Presse in New York

Published at 21:04

• Europe

“I will spend the rest of my life in prison and die here,” wrote Alexei Navalny in March 2022, according to excerpts published Friday from the posthumous memoirs of Vladimir Putin’s leading opponent, who died in a Russian jail in February.

“There will be no one to say goodbye to […] All birthdays will be celebrated without me. I will never see my grandchildren. I will not be the subject of any family fuss.” “I will not be in any photos,” Alexei Navalny added on March 22, 2022, in this prison diary, excerpts of which were published by the magazine The New Yorker, ahead of its October 22 release.

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On his return to Russia in January 2021, after a serious poisoning, the anti-corruption activist was immediately arrested. He was serving a 19-year prison sentence for “extremism” in an Arctic penal colony when he died at the age of 47 on February 16.

“The only thing we should fear is abandoning our homeland to the plunder of a gang of liars, thieves and hypocrites,” he wrote on January 17, 2022.

In the excerpts, where touches of humor shine through despite the solitude and confinement, the opponent describes a typical day on July 1, 2022: getting up at 6 a.m., having breakfast at 6:20 a.m. and starting work at 6:40 a.m.

“At work, you sit for seven hours at the sewing machine, on a stool lower than knee height,” he describes.

“After work, you continue to sit for a few hours on a wooden bench under a portrait of Putin. This is what is called a “disciplinary activity”, describes Alexei Navalny.

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The book, titled Patriot, is being released worldwide on October 22, and a Russian version is planned according to the American publisher Knopf. The activist's death has drawn unanimous condemnation from Western capitals, with many leaders pointing the finger at Vladimir Putin's door.

For David Remnick, editor-in-chief of the New Yorker, “it is impossible to read Mr. Navalny's prison diary without being outraged by the tragedy of his suffering and his death.”

In the last diary entry published by the New Yorker, on January 17, 2024, the opponent confides that a question comes up repeatedly among his fellow prisoners or some prison officers: why did he return to Russia ?

“I don't want to abandon my country or betray it. If your beliefs mean something, you have to be prepared to defend them and make sacrifices if necessary,” he replies.