Where is Navalny Now: Alexei Anatolievich Navalny is a prominent political activist and lawyer in Russia. He is well-known for his fight against corruption and his criticism of Putin. He started working as an attorney when he was twenty-one, joined the Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko when he was twenty-three, and graduated with a degree in economics when he was twenty-four. At the age of 31, he helped launch a new political movement called “The People.”
At 32, he began his career as an activist shareholder when he founded the Union of Minority Shareholders. He went on to find other shareholder advocacy platforms, including RosPil (2010) and RosYama (2012). (2011). At the age of 35, he ramped up his movement, calling on Russians to boycott the election of the ruling United Russia party and eventually leading protests against election fraud that landed him in jail and brought him international notoriety.
Since then, he has been accused of fraud on multiple occasions, leading to lengthy periods of house arrest and jail time and disqualifying him from running for president of Russia.
Where is Navalny Now?
Aleksei Navalny was poisoned with a banned, military-grade Novichok nerve agent in August 2020 while visiting Tomsk in South Siberia. Later that month, while still unconscious and in critical condition, he was airlifted to Germany for medical care.
Upon his return to Russia on January 17, 2021, Navalny was arrested. For failing to check in with his probation officer while receiving life-saving treatment in Germany, a court in Moscow has sentenced Aleksei Navalny to two years and six months in prison for “violating the terms of a suspended sentence.”
Unfortunately, Russian authorities didn’t stop there with their unjust persecution of Aleksei Navalny. He was arrested in February 2022 on charges of fraud and sentenced to nine years in prison in a high-security penal colony in March 2022.
New charges were brought against Aleksei Navalny for political reasons in May of 2022. They say he started an extremist group or movement. Navalny faces up to 10 years in prison if he is found guilty.
In detention, Aleksei Navalny was subjected to psychological pressure, denied access to proper medical care, and deprived of sleep. He was moved to the strict regime penal colony in June 2022, where he claimed he was kept in a “prison within a prison” and was made to work while sitting on a low stool, which exacerbated his health issues.
Aleksei Navalny Stepped Into Politics
Navalny believed that the interests of parties like Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces were hurt by a law passed in 2000 that increased the electoral threshold for State Duma elections. He did not particularly care for either major political party, but he eventually affiliated with Yabloko, the Russian United Democratic Party. There is evidence that he joined the Yabloko party back in 2001. From there, he quickly established himself, first being elected to the Moscow regional council in 2002 and then leading the campaign in the Moscow region for the parliamentary election that took place in December 2003.
As the deputy chief of Yabloko in Moscow, he established the Muscovite Protection Committee in 2004. The committee, made up of over a hundred initiative groups, fought against infill development and stopped many potentially harmful buildings from being built.
Since 2005, he has served on the Social Council of Moscow’s Central Administrative Okrug.
In an effort to promote democracy and advocate for the rights of ethnic Russians, he helped launch a new political movement called “The People” on June 23, 2007. After that, he stepped down from his position as the Moscow Yabloko party’s deputy chief.
Aleksei Navalny Countering Corrupt Practices
By investing roughly 300,000 rubles in the stock of five oil and gas companies in 2008, Navalny established the ‘Union of Minority Shareholders and became an activist shareholder. He eventually published evidence that numerous state corporations, including Transneft, were engaging in financial misappropriation. This was his first time getting noticed professionally.
He began working on the RosPil initiative in 2010 to uncover instances of fraud and unfair competition in the public sector procurement process. Rapidly, their legal team began sniffing out illegal or dishonest dealings, taking them to court and winning.
He founded the Anti-Corruption Foundation in 2011, and it has since become the largest independent group investigating and prosecuting instances of official misconduct and fraud. That same year, he also introduced RosYama, a platform that let citizens report on road conditions and monitor the government’s response.
Adeptness Around the World
Alexei Navalny launched a major political campaign in 2011, urging citizens to boycott the upcoming parliamentary election in favor of the opposition party, “United Russia.” As a result of its widespread popularity, the ruling party resorted to dishonest tactics.
Following United Russia’s election victory, widespread demonstrations erupted across the country, leading to numerous arrests. On December 5th, 2011, police made an arrest and brought Navalny before a judge; he was given a 15-day jail term. It helped him become more well-known all over the world.
As soon as Vladimir Putin was reelected as president in what he claimed was a fraudulent election in May 2012, he began organizing massive rallies. After being re-arrested on May 8 and given another 15-day sentence, Amnesty International recognized him as a “Prisoner of Conscience.”
On July 17, 2013, he decided to enter the Moscow mayoral race. He was taken into custody on July 18 and given a five-year prison sentence for fraud against the Russian state enterprise Kirovles. However, he was released on bail the following day.
In 2013, a concerted effort was made to diminish his chances of being elected mayor. However, despite this, he still managed to win 27.24 percent of the vote. Soon after, he became a member of “The People Alliance,” which became the Progress Party in 2014.
Because of the increased intensity of his anti-corruption crusade in 2014, both Navalny and his brother were now accused of wrongdoing in a separate case. In addition to Navalny’s three and a half years of house arrest, his brother spent the same amount of time in a penal colony.
Has Navaly Been President of Russia?
On the 13th of December 2016, Navalny declared his intention to run for president of Russia in the upcoming 2018 election. His conviction in the Kirovles case led to the swift reopening of cases that had been previously suspended, and he was denied registration by the Central Election Commission.
Due to ineligibility, he has been leading protest marches calling for a voter boycott. He was arrested multiple times before his May 2018 apprehension and subsequent 30-day sentence for planning and leading unlawful protests.
Navalny was arrested again in July 2019 and sentenced to a month in prison just before the Moscow city Duma election. He suffered extensive injuries to his eyes and skin on July 28, 2019, while serving his prison sentence.
The hospital staff assumed it was an allergy and discharged him, but his personal doctor disagrees and thinks a chemical reaction was to blame. Navalny, however, is not deterred and continues his fight against corruption.
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