Widowed Wife of Alexei Navalny Vows to Seek Justice For Her Husband: ‘They Will Be Punished’

Kai Pfaffenbach/Pool Photo via AP

Yulia Navalnya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, took the stage at the Munich Security Conference on Friday to issue a message to those responsible for her husband’s death: “I want them to know that they will be punished.”

News broke that Navalny. a Russian lawyer and activist who vocally opposed the leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died while imprisoned in Russia on Friday at age 47. The overwhelming belief across the international community is that Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death, and Navalnya appeared to agree. In a translation of her comments, she said:

I don’t know, should we believe the terrible news we get, the news we get only from the official media? Because for many years — and you know all this — we have been in this situation, we cannot believe Putin and his government, they are lying constantly.

But if it is the truth, I would like Putin and all his staff — everybody around him, his government, his friends — I want them to know that they will be punished for what they have done with our country, with my family and with my husband.

They will be brought to justice, and this day will come soon.

And [I] would like to call upon all the international community, all the people in the world, we should come together and we should fight against this evil. We should fight this horrific regime in Russia today. This regime and Vladimir Putin should be personally held responsible for all the atrocities they have committed in our country the last years.

Navalnya received a standing ovation following her comments.

In a statement, the prison service of the Yamalo-Nenets region where Navalny was held said he “felt unwell after a walk, almost immediately losing consciousness. The medical staff of the institution arrived immediately, and an ambulance team was called. All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out, which did not yield positive results. Doctors of the ambulance stated the death of the convict. The causes of death are being established.”