How smug British liberals like Tony Blair made it much easier for Putin to torture his No 1 enemy Alexei Navalny to death in a gulag, by JOHN SWEENEY By John Sweeney Published: 06:50 EDT, 21 July 2024 | Updated: 06:50 EDT, 21 July 2024 e-mail View comments Alexei Navalny died in the sub-zero misery of the Polar Wolf penal colony, but how and on whose orders remains a mystery, as acclaimed journalist John Sweeney explained on Mail+ yesterday. Continuing his impassioned inquest into the death of one of the bravest men in modern history, he turns his ire to the moral failings of the West..
. On the same day in February 2022 that Russia sent in its heavy metal to seize Ukraine, the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was being tried for new fraud charges as the Kremlin cranked up the pressure on him. He was alleged to have embezzled his own Anti-Corruption Foundation of $4.
7million and insulted the dignity of a judge. Though the evidence against him was – how can I put this diplomatically? – a crock of s***, he faced an extra 10 to 15 years in prison. He managed to get his thoughts on the war into the trial papers.
‘I am against it,’ he said. ‘It is being waged to cover up theft from the Russian people and divert their attention from the real problems inside the country.’ He predicted it would lead to a huge number of victims, destroy futures and continue the impoverishment of the Russian people.
A year and a half later, he was on trial again, in a closed-doors court wher.