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MOSCOW – Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died yesterday in the Arctic prison colony where he was serving a 19-year-term, Russia’s federal penitentiary service said.
Western governments immediately attacked the Kremlin over the death of the most outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin.
Navalny lost consciousness after a walk and could not be revived by medics, the prison service said.
“Navalny felt bad after a walk, almost immediately losing consciousness. Medical staff arrived immediately and an ambulance team was called,” it said.
“Resuscitation measures were carried out which did not yield positive results. Paramedics confirmed the death of the convict. The causes of death are being established.”
The 47-year-old was Russia’s most prominent opposition leader and won a huge following with his criticism of corruption in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
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Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened an investigation into the death.
Navalny’s Press Secretary Kira Yarmysh said his team had not been informed of his death.
“Alexei’s lawyer is now flying to Kharp,” where his prison colony is, she said in a post on social media.
Citing his spokesman, Russian news agencies reported that Putin had been informed of Navalny’s death.
Western governments and Russian opposition figures yesterday said the Kremlin was responsible for his death.
Latvia’s president said he had been ‘brutally murdered by the Kremlin’.
“The Russian government bears a heavy responsibility,” Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
France’s Foreign minister said Navalny had paid with his life for resisting oppression.
KZN - The South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) in KwaZulu-Natal has expelled former President Jacob Zuma as its provincial chairperson.
The expulsion of Zuma from SANCO comes a few weeks after the African National Congress (ANC) suspended him over his involvement with uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, which is contesting elections against the ANC.
Zuma was elected SANCO provincial chairperson last year. SANCO is an ANC alliance partner.
However, last December, Zuma announced he would not vote for the ANC in the upcoming elections, announcing that he would instead campaign for the newlyformed MK party.
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The MK party was registered with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), but the ANC has gone to the Electoral Court to challenge the name.
The ANC said the name belongs to it as this was its military wing that was formed in 1961.
The ANC formally disbanded the MK in December 1993 and formed the uMkhonto WeSizwe Military Veterans Association.
Meanwhile, the electoral court is expected to hear the matter over the use of the ‘MK’ on March 19.
SANCO announced yesterday that Zuma has been expelled from the organisation. It said he has not attended meetings and they have considered him to have absconded.