for many alexe naali was the last great
hope for a democratic
Russia a charismatic anti-corruption
campaigner and opposition politician who
took on Vladimir Putin at Great risk to
his own
safety on Friday it was announced he
died at this Arctic penal colony where
he was serving over 30 years for a
series of charges including extreme
ISM Russian authorities say he died from
sudden death syndrome but three of the
people who best know how Putin operates
have told 730 they believe that naali
was murdered I was horrified of course
but unfortunately not surprised because
political assassinations is something
Vladimir Putin has been doing for years
the message from the Kremlin is don't
mess with the Zar because if you mess
with the zar
you may die Putin's got an election
coming up in the middle of March he's
scared to death that people aren't going
to come out and support him so what
better way to make sure that he has no
opposition than to kill the most
important opposition politician in
Russia Alexi
nalni within hours of the announcement
of his death naval's wife ulia spoke at
the Munich security
conference
if anyone can understand what Na's
family might be going through it's
yvenia Kara murer whose husband the
opposition politician Vladimir Kara mura
has survived two poisoning
attempts my heart goes out to Alexa's
family and I can I can imagine what
they're living through right now because
I've been on the brink of that um at
least
twice last year Vladimir Kara murza was
sentenced to 25 years in jail for
speaking out against Putin's war in
Ukraine and there are now grave fears
about his safety as well I have been
fearing for my husband's life uh every
single day since at least his first
poisoning 20 15 any moment of any day of
my life the phone call might come John
Sweeney is the author of killer in the
Kremlin a book that documents what
happens to Putin's critics let's run
through a few of them um Anna of Sky
Natasha es marova Boris nof Alexa Nal in
order poison then shot shot shot
poisoned now dead he says in recent
years is naali was seen as Putin's
greatest
threat he was everything um Putin wasn't
physically
Brave amusing funny charismatic all of
those things and Putin hated
him the reason um Alexa naali had to be
eliminated like that is because he of
course represented a very strong
alternative to Vladimir Putin and
refused to back down refused to be
silent
Nali first rose to prominence in 2011
protesting against electoral fraud and
Corruption and what he called Putin's
party of crooks and
thieves Alexi nalni started exposing the
corruption he started fighting the
corruption he created uh YouTube videos
about corrupt officials and that
platform grew and grew and grew and he
has millions of Russians particularly
young Russians who say enough of this
horrible um stealing that's going on um
we want someone fresh and and young who
will stop it and that's what Alexi Nal
was all
about he was barred from running for
president but continued to get under
Putin's
skin after speaking out against
constitutional changes that could have
seen Putin remain in power for another
16 years he was poisoned in Siberia in
2020 he collapsed while on a plane to
Moscow but survived after being
evacuated to
Berlin Conan a few months later navali
tracked down one of the security service
agents involved in the operation to
assassinate him and NY plays some
Kremlin high up say hello uh tell me
what happened how did you do it I'm the
hapless poisoner spills beans and says
we put the noock on the seam of nabal's
Underpants the following month navali
decided to return to Russia at that
moment the Putin regime said if you come
back to Russia we will arrest you hoping
that he will never come back to Russia
but instead he got on that airplane flew
to Moscow and was arrested when he
landed a series of Trials before Kremlin
controlled courts saw him facing decades
in prison and what ultimately became a
death sentence and it shows what kind of
man Alexi nalni is he he cared more
about the the future of his country than
his own personal security and his own
safety and he was ready to take a risk
with his life and his Liberty for his
country across the world tributes have
been paid to a brave opposition leader
who wanted a better future for his
country make no mistake Putin is
responsible for Nal death in Russia
hundreds of those commemorating Nani's
death have been
arrested and in this climate yenia K
mura is worried that her husband and
other political prisoners may not
survive now that the regime has killed
its most prominent opponent I believe
that they will not stop before killing
other people in Russian
prisons next month Russia will hold what
they're calling a presidential election
but with Putin's main opponents in jail
dead or barred from running it's more
like a
coronation how many more people does
Vladimir Putin have to kill before you
get it he is an enemy of everything we
believe in of democracy Fair Play Free
Speech common decency having a laugh for
people in
power come on this man is not our friend
we got to stand up to
him