Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest opponent, has believed he would die in prison, according to a book due to be released on October 22.
On Friday, the US Yorker magazine published parts of a book that included Navalny’s prison diary and other manuscripts.
“I will spend the rest of my life in prison and die here,” he wrote on March 22, 2022.
“I will have no one to say goodbye to… all anniversaries will be celebrated without me. I will never see my grandchildren”.
Navalny has been serving a 19-year prison sentence on charges of “extremism” in an Arctic prison.
His death on February 16, at the age of 47, has been strongly condemned by the West and most have blamed Putin.
Navalny was arrested in January 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was treated after a nerve agent poisoning in a Russian city.
“The only thing we have to fear is to hand over our homeland to a gang of robbers, thieves and hypocrites,” he wrote on January 17, 2022.
In his manuscripts there is loneliness in prison, but without losing the dose of humor.
For example, on July 1, 2022, Navalny described his usual day: waking up at 6:00, breakfast at 6:20 and starting work at 6:40.
” At work, sit for seven hours sewing in the car, ” he wrote.
“After work, continue to sit for a few hours on a wooden bench in front of Putin’s portrait. This is called “disciplinary action””
The book, called “Patriot”, will be published by the US publishing house Knopf, which plans to publish the Russian version as well.
“It is impossible to read Navalny’s diary in prison without being horrified by the tragedy of his suffering, by his death,” said the editor of the New York Times, David Remnick.
In his last manuscript, on January 17, 2024, Navalny answers a question asked by many in prison about why he returned to Russia.
“I don’t want to give up my country or betray it. If your beliefs mean something, you should be prepared to hold them, and make sacrifices if necessary,” he said./ REL
