Navalny knew his life would end in prison without fall of regime
Alexei Navalny’s words that his prison sentence would mean life in his case unless there was political change in Russia have been borne out by his death as an inmate.
Mr Navalny was born in Butyn, about 25 miles outside Moscow.
He received a law degree from People’s Friendship University in 1998 and did a fellowship at Yale in 2010.
He gained attention by focusing on corruption in Russia’s murky mix of politicians and businesses; one of his early moves was to buy a stake in Russian oil and gas companies to become an activist shareholder and push for transparency.
By concentrating on corruption, Mr Navalny’s work had an appeal to his countrymen’s widespread sense of being cheated, and he carried stronger resonance than more abstract and philosophical concerns about democratic ideals and human rights.
He was convicted in 2013 of embezzlement on what he called a politically motivated prosecution and was sentenced to five years in prison, but the prosecutor's office later surprisingly demanded his release pending appeal.
A higher court later gave him a suspended sentence.
The day before the sentence, Mr Navalny had registered as a candidate for Moscow mayor.
Mr Navalny's popularity increased after the leading charismatic politician, Boris Nemtsov, was shot and killed in 2015 on a bridge near the Kremlin.
Even in opposition circles, Mr Navalny was often viewed as having an overly nationalist streak for supporting the rights of ethnic Russians, he supported the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by Moscow in 2014 although most nations viewed it as illegal.
Although state-controlled TV channels ignored Mr Navalny, his investigations resonated with younger Russians via Youtube videos and posts on his website and social media accounts.
The strategy helped him reach into the hinterlands far from the political and cultural centres of Moscow and St Petersburg and establish a strong network of regional offices.