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- Alexei Navalny, a Kremlin critic and Putin political opponent, died in a Russian prison, per Russian statements.
- The 2022 documentary "Navalny" featured his message to Russians in case of his death.
- "You're not allowed to give up," he says in the video.
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has died in prison, Russia said Friday. In the 2022 documentary, "Navalny," the man himself had a message for what his death would mean if it ever happened.
"If they decide to kill me, we are incredibly strong," he said, addressing Russian citizens. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good people to do nothing. So don't be inactive."
Opposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin's rule, Navalny was serving a 19-year sentence widely seen as politically motivated. He is said to have lost consciousness after taking a walk and was pronounced dead immediately after medics were called, according to Russia's Federal Prison Service.
"You're not allowed to give up," Navalny said in the Daniel Rohr film, adding that "we need to utilize this power to not give up, to remember we are a huge power that is being oppressed by these bad dudes."
Navalny previously fell ill in 2020 on a flight from Siberia to Moscow. He was taken to Germany, where local medical professionals determined that he had been poisoned by a chemical agent from the Novichok family, a Soviet-era nerve agent.
Navalny blamed the Kremlin, and independent investigations found links to the Russian security services.
Russia refused to investigate and denied claims that Russian leadership was somehow involved with the poisoning. Other incidents of this nature have occurred in the past, such as the Skripal poisonings in the UK that took aim at a former Russian military officer long ago turned spy for the British government. That incident involved the same nerve agent.
Navalny returned to Russia after recovering in Germany and was arrested. He was put in prison in January 2021, and there have long been concerns that Russian authorities would end his life.