- Alexey Navalny told his lawyer he suspected he was being poisoned in prison months before his death.
- The Russian opposition leader died suddenly in a Russian penal colony in February.
Alexey Navalny, the late Russian opposition leader, said he thought he was being poisoned months before he died suddenly in prison, his former lawyer has claimed.
Olga Mikhailova, who worked as Navalny's lawyer for 16 years, told Russian outlet Meduza that when she visited him in April 2023, he said: "Listen, I don't want to come across as paranoid, but I think they're trying to poison me."
She said that immediately after he told her, she posted the allegation on X and filed several official complaints.
Navalny, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most outspoken critics, died in a Russian penal colony on February 16, where he had been held since 2021 on charges widely seen as politically motivated.
Mikhailova said that she and the rest of Navalny's legal team were concerned about his health in detention.
She said that the first time she properly saw him face to face after his imprisonment was at court hearings in 2023 and that she was "horrified" by his appearance.
"He was very thin, gray in color," she told Meduza.
She claimed that while at the colony, Navalny was not properly fed, was not allowed to sleep, and had been put in a punishment cell.
Navalny's health deteriorated while in prison, and at one point, he went on a hunger strike over complaints that he was not being given medical treatment.
When Russia's Federal Prison Service announced Navalny's death, it said that he felt unwell after taking a walk and almost immediately lost consciousness. Russia's spymaster later claimed that he died of natural causes.
Western leaders, including President Joe Biden, have accused Putin of being behind Navalny's death. The Kremlin has denied the accusations.
Navalny campaigned against Putin and his inner circle for years, releasing viral videos exposing their alleged corruption and holding anti-Kremlin rallies.
He narrowly escaped death after being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in 2020, which he blamed on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He returned to Russia the following year and was immediately arrested.
When asked why Navalny continued to speak out after being saddled with several criminal cases, Mikhailova said: "He's built like that. Sees the goal and goes towards it. He didn't care what happened — he walked his own path, and nothing could stop him."