Navalny spent a decade with Putin’s target on his back – he knew this was how it would end

Western leaders have lined up to praise the bravery of a man who repeatedly stood up against the Kremlin, writes Kim Sengupta

Alexei Navalny’s family and friends had urged him not to go back to Russia, but he was determined to continue his fight (Reuters)

From the moment Alexei Navalny returned to Russia after receiving medical treatment in Germany three years ago, there was always a fear that he was a dead man walking. But the news, when it came at the end, was still a shock, sending reverberations around the world.

The emergency health issue that had taken Vladimir Putin’s most prominent domestic opponent to Berlin in a coma was novichok poisoning, with the Kremlin the prime suspect. Navalny’s family and friends had urged him not to go back to Russia, but he was determined to continue his fight.

Navalny was arrested at the airport, put before a court, and sentenced to two and half years of a formerly suspended jail term for alleged fraud. This was just a holding move by the government prosecutors, and a series of other charges followed, ultimately paving the way for his lonely death in an icy Arctic prison where he was serving a 19-year sentence.