Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny (1976–2024) was a Russian opposition leader, anti-corruption activist and author, murdered in prison by the Russian state in 2024. His memoir Patriot, completed at the end of his life, is at once a political autobiography, a love letter to his family, and a cry of conscience about Russia under Putin.

A lawyer by training, Navalny built his movement on YouTube exposés of the corruption of Russian elites, surviving poisoning by Novichok in 2020. His refusal to leave Russia, his jury questions to his own captors, and his courage in court made him a symbol of resistance around the world, a symbol that survives him.