Alexei Navalny, Russian lawyer and politician
Alexei Anatolievich Navalny (Russian: Алексей Анатольевич Навальный, IPA: [ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ nɐˈvalʲnɨj]; born 4 June 1976) is a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, and anti-corruption activist. He has organised anti-government demonstrations and run for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia, and against president Vladimir Putin and his government, who avoids referring directly to Navalny by name. Navalny was a Russian Opposition Coordination Council member. He is the leader of the Russia of the Future party and founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK).In 2021, Navalny had more than six million YouTube subscribers. Through his social media channels, he publishes material about corruption in Russia, organises political demonstrations and promotes his campaigns. In a 2011 radio interview, he described Russia's ruling party, United Russia, as a "party of crooks and thieves," which became a popular epithet. Navalny and the FBK have published investigations detailing alleged corruption by high-ranking Russian officials. In March 2017, Navalny and the FBK released the documentary He Is Not Dimon to You, accusing Dmitry Medvedev, the then prime minister and former president of Russia, of corruption, leading to mass protests across the country.In July 2013, Navalny received a suspended sentence for embezzlement. Despite this, he was allowed to run in the 2013 Moscow mayoral election and came in second, with 27% of the vote, outperforming expectations but losing to incumbent mayor Sergey Sobyanin, a Putin appointee. In December 2014, Navalny received another suspended sentence for embezzlement. Both of his criminal cases were widely considered to be politically motivated and intended to bar him from running in future elections. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) later ruled that the cases violated Navalny's right to a fair trial, but his sentences were never overturned. In December 2016, Navalny launched his presidential campaign for the 2018 presidential election but was barred by Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC) after registering due to his prior criminal conviction; the Russian Supreme Court subsequently rejected his appeal. In 2017, the CEC stated that he would not be eligible to run for president until after 2028. In 2018, Navalny initiated Smart Voting, a tactical voting strategy intended to consolidate the votes of those who oppose United Russia, to the party of seats in elections.In August 2020, Navalny was hospitalised in serious condition after being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. He was medically evacuated to Berlin and discharged a month later. 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 (imposed as a result of his 2014 conviction) 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. A resolution by the ECHR called for his release. While in prison, Navalny and human rights groups have accused Russian authorities of subjecting him to torture. He is recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. In October 2021, while still in prison, he was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights. In March 2022, Navalny was sentenced to an additional 9 years in prison after being found guilty of embezzlement and contempt of court in a new trial.