Navalny died aged 47 under unclear circumstances in a Russian penal colony on 16 February this year. On 22 October, his memoirs “Patriot” will be published posthumously by the American publisher Knopf.
The newspaper The New Yorker published Saturday excerpts from the book, which contains notes from Navalny’s prison diary as well as several earlier notes.
– I will spend the rest of my life in prison and die here, he writes on 22 March 2022.
– There won’t be anyone to say have it to. All anniversaries will be celebrated without me. I will never see my grandchildren, he writes further.
Insight into prison life
Navalny was jailed when he returned to his homeland in 2021 after coming close to death from poisoning the year before. He was prosecuted for extremism and sentenced to 19 years in prison in a penal colony in the Arctic.
On 17 January 2022, he writes that “the only thing we should fear is surrendering our country to be plundered by a bunch of liars, thieves and hypocrites”.
The book gives an insight into how lonely it is in prison, but he also has a touch of gallows humor. For example, he writes on 1 July 2022 about a typical day in prison: Waking up at 6, breakfast at 6.20 and starting the working day at 6.40.
– At work you sit for seven hours at a sewing machine on a stool at knee height. After work, one continues to sit on a wooden bench under a portrait of Putin. This is called discipline activity.
Would not give up
In one of the book’s final paragraphs, dated January 17 this year, Navalny answers a question that other inmates and prison guards ask him: Why did he return to Russia?
– I don’t want to give up my country or let it down. If your conviction means something to you, you must be ready to stand up for it and make sacrifices if necessary.
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