Publisher Penguin Random House (PRH) has announced that a memoir by the late Russian politician Alexei Navalny is set to be released this autumn. Titled “Patriot,” the book was initiated by the Russian opposition leader and pro-democracy advocate shortly after his poisoning in 2020. Navalny managed to complete the manuscript before his death in prison in 2024, dictating certain sections.
His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, has collaborated with editors to finalize the book for publication. She described it as a” testament not only to Alexei’s life, but to his unwavering commitment to the fight against dictatorship – a fight he gave everything for, including his life.” She hopes that readers will “come to know the man [she] loved deeply – a man of profound integrity and unyielding courage.” “Sharing his story will not only honour his memory but also inspire others to stand up for what is right and to never lose sight of the values that truly matter”, she added.
Navalny commenced work on his book while recuperating from the nerve agent poisoning he suffered in 2020. The political campaigner “wrote the entire memoir himself, publishers Vintage informed the BBC.
His memoir will be “the full story of his life: his youth, his call to activism, his marriage and family, and his commitment to the cause of Russian democracy and freedom in the face of a world superpower determined to silence him,” Vintage said.
“In vivid, page-turning detail, including never-before-seen correspondence from prison, Navalny recounts, among other things … the many attempts on his life, and on the lives of the people closest to him, and the relentless campaign he and his team waged against an increasingly dictatorial regime”, the publisher added.
Who Is Alexie Navalny?
Navalny, who initially pursued a career as a lawyer, rose to prominence as Russia’s foremost anti-government campaigner and President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critic. He founded the Anti-Corruption Foundation and was honored with the European Union’s Sakharov Prize for his “individuals, groups and organisations that have made an outstanding contribution to protecting freedom of thought” in 2021.
In 2013 and 2014, Navalny received suspended sentences for embezzlement, charges he claimed were fabricated to hinder his political aspirations. Despite this, he contested the 2013 Moscow mayoral election and secured second place with 27% of the vote. However, he was prohibited from running in the 2018 presidential election.
In August 2020, he was transferred to a hospital in Berlin after being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. Navalny directly accused Putin of orchestrating the attack. Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) uncovered corruption across various tiers of the Russian government, often focusing on President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle.
In 2021, Navalny returned to Russia and was arrested for allegedly violating parole conditions while in Germany. Subsequently, in 2022, he was convicted of large-scale fraud and contempt, receiving a nine-year sentence in a maximum-security penal colony. Amnesty International denounced the trial as a sham. In August 2023, he was handed an additional 19-year prison term. Tragically, on February 16, 2024, the Russian prison service announced Navalny’s passing at the age of 47.
“Patriot” is set to be published on October 22 by Vintage in the UK and Knopf in the US.
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