Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died in prison inside the Arctic Circle, according to reports from Russian news agencies quoting the prison service.
Navalny was aged 47; the Yamalo-Nenets district prison service is establishing the cause of his death, according to Tass news agency.
A vocal critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin, Navalny was the subject of Daniel Roher’s US documentary Navalny, which won the Oscar and Bafta for best documentary in 2023.
Navalny premiered at Sundance, winning the audience award in the US documentary competition, and went on to play festivals including Doc NYC and CPH:DOX.
The film relayed the events related to Navalny’s poisoning in 2020 and the subsequent investigation into it; as well as featuring lengthy interviews with Navalny himself, ahead of his re-arrest in February 2021.
Since then he has been held in different prisons in Russia, having his sentence increased at regular intervals; an increase of 19 years on extremism charges in August 2023 put his release date at December 2038.
Navalny is survived by his wife Yulia Abrosimova, who has been carrying on his cause through the vehicle of the film in the last few years; and their two children.
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