“Putin killed my husband,” said the widow of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny

The widow of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny This Monday she accused the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, of killing her husbandand promised that he will continue to fight for the “freedom” of his country.

“Three days ago, Vladimir Putin killed my husband, Alexei Navalny. Putin killed the father of my children“, said Yulia Navalnaya holding back tears in a video published this Monday on social networks.

“With him (Putin) wanted to kill our spirit, our freedom, our future,” he added.

Prison authorities said Navalny died after losing consciousness following a walk Friday in the remote Arctic prison where he was serving a 19-year sentence.

“They couldn’t break my husband, that’s why Putin killed him” Navalnaya said, adding that her husband was “abused, isolated from the world” and “still hasn’t given up.”

The opposition leader’s wife vowed to find out “who committed this crime” and under what circumstances.

“I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny. I will continue for our country, with you. I ask everyone to be by my side (…). It is not a sin to do little, it is a sin to do nothing, it is a sin to allow yourself to be afraid,” he said.

Navalny He was sentenced to 19 years in prison for “extremism”, and was perceived by many as Russia’s best hope for change.

The announcement of his death last week caused dismay among his supporters, many of them young people, condemnation from Western powers and accusations that Russian authorities were responsible for his death.

Navalny, a lawyer and blogger, has established himself for 12 years as the number one detractor of Putin and his “party of thieves and swindlers”, as he used to describe it.

Harassed by the authorities and ignored by the official media, he gained notoriety on the internet thanks to his presence on social networks, thanks to the diffusion of viral video investigations that denounced the corruption of Russian power.

In January 2021 he was arrested upon returning to his country after recovering in Germany, where he was hospitalized after being the victim of a poisoning in Russia that he blamed on Putin, something the Kremlin has always denied.

A fierce opponent of Putin, who has always refused to pronounce his name, Navalny had called protests against the president in the country’s polling stations during the presidential elections which will be held from 15 to 17 March.