[I]f tomorrow ten businessmen spoke up directly and openly we'd live in a different country. Starting tomorrow. - Alexei Navalny

About Alexei Navalny

Alexei Anatolievich Navalny (4 June 1976 – 16 February 2024) was a Russian opposition leader, dissident, lawyer, and anti-corruption activist. He came to international prominence by organizing anti-government demonstrations and running for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia, and against President Vladimir Putin and his government. Navalny was a Russian Opposition Coordination Council member, the leader of the Russia of the Future party and founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation. In August 2020, Navalny was hospitalized in serious condition after being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. Navalny accused Putin of being responsible for his poisoning, and an investigation implicated agents from the Federal Security Service (FSB). The EU, UK and US responded by imposing sanctions on senior Russian officials. On 17 January 2021, Navalny returned to Russia and was detained on accusations of violating parole conditions because he had failed to report to Russia's Federal Prison Service (FSIN) twice per month during his illness. Following his arrest and the release of the documentary Putin's Palace, which accused Putin of corruption, mass protests were held across Russia. On 2 February, his suspended sentence was replaced with a prison sentence of over two and half years' detention in a corrective labour colony in Vladimir Oblast. While in prison, Navalny and human rights groups have accused Russian authorities of using torture against him. He is recognized by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. In October 2021, he was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights.

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