On this day, HRF remembers Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader. Two years ago today, he was murdered in a remote Arctic penal colony by Vladimir Putin’s regime while he was serving a 19-year prison sentence on trumped-up charges.

After surviving a poisoning in 2020, Navalny bravely returned to Russia knowing he would be arrested. From 2021 until his death in 2024, he endured solitary confinement and torture.

This week, the governments of the UK, Sweden, France, Germany, and the Netherlands confirmed that Navalny was poisoned with epibatidine, a lethal toxin not naturally found in Russia, directly contradicting the regime’s claim that he died of natural causes.

Since his murder, the regime has moved to erase his legacy. Navalny’s supporters have been prosecuted under sweeping “extremism” laws, and in January 2025, his lawyers — Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser, and Igor Sergunin — were imprisoned.

Navalny’s cause did not end with his death. Last month, HRF urged the UN to intervene and demanded the immediate release of Navalny’s lawyers. The drive for rule of law and accountability for Putin’s regime continues.