Excerpts of a memoir written by late Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny revealed he believed he would die in jail.
The New Yorker journal printed the excerpts Friday in anticipation of the discharge of “Patriot” on Oct. 22.
Navalny was President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest and most outstanding foe and relentlessly campaigned towards official corruption in Russia. He died in a distant Arctic jail in February whereas serving a 19-year sentence on a number of prices, together with operating an extremist group, which he stated had been politically motivated.
He was jailed after returning in 2021 from Germany the place he was recuperating from a nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin, and was given three jail phrases since. Russian officers have vehemently denied involvement each within the poisoning and in his loss of life.
“Patriot” was introduced in April by writer Alfred A. Knopf who known as it the late politician’s “ultimate letter to the world.”
In response to Knopf, Navalny started engaged on the ebook whereas recovering from the poisoning and continued writing it in Russia, each out and in of jail.
In detailing his coping methods whereas imprisoned, Navalny stated he would “think about, as realistically as attainable, the worst factor that might occur. After which (…) settle for it.”
For him, this was dying in jail.
“I’ll spend the remainder of my life in jail and die right here,” he wrote on March 22, 2022.
“There is not going to be anyone to say goodbye to … All anniversaries can be celebrated with out me. I’ll by no means see my grandchildren.”
Though he had accepted this destiny, Navalny’s memoir conveys a resolute stance towards official corruption in Russia.
“My strategy to the state of affairs is definitely not one among contemplative passivity. I’m attempting to do all the things I can from right here to place an finish to authoritarianism (or, extra modestly, to contribute to ending it),” he wrote, additionally on March 22, 2022.
In a broadcast excerpt, dated January 17, 2024, a month earlier than his loss of life, Navalny solutions the query posed by his fellow inmates and jail guards: “Why did you come again?”
“I don’t wish to quit my nation or betray it. In case your convictions imply one thing, you have to be ready to face up for them and make sacrifices if crucial,” he wrote.
In addition to capturing the isolation and challenges of his imprisonment, Navalny’s writing is notable additionally for its humor. The late dissident recounts a wager together with his legal professionals over the size of a brand new jail sentence: “Olga reckoned eleven to fifteen years. Vadim stunned everybody together with his prediction of exactly twelve years and 6 months. I guessed seven to eight years and was the winner.”
He additionally marveled on the absurdity of being made to take a seat for “hours on a picket bench below a portrait of Putin” as a “disciplinary exercise.”
Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, stated in an announcement launched in April by the writer the ebook was not solely a testomony “to Alexei’s life, however to his unwavering dedication to the struggle towards dictatorship,” including that sharing his story would” encourage others to face up for what is correct and to by no means lose sight of the values that actually matter.”
She additionally stated the memoir was already translated into 11 languages and would “positively” be printed in Russian.
