Patriot, by Alexeï Navalny | Memories from beyond the grave

He could have become the Russian Nelson Mandela. But Vladimir Putin did not give him this chance. On February 16, Alexeï Navalny died in a penal colony in Russia, at the age of 47. Sad end for this trained lawyer, who had become the Russian president’s most famous political opponent. Eight months later, his posthumous autobiography was published, as a final snub to the corrupt government that he constantly denounced. Selected pieces.

Victim of the Nazgûl

On August 20, 2020, Navalny suffered novichok poisoning on the plane taking him from Tomsk to Moscow. Two days later, he was sent to a hospital in Berlin to receive treatment. His account of the event confirms his astonishing sense of humor. “When someone asks me what it’s like to die from a chemical weapon, two associations of ideas come to mind: the Dementors of Harry Potter and the Nazgûl of Lord of the Rings. A Dementor’s kiss is painless, the victim feels his life leaving him, that’s all. The Nazgûl’s main weapon is their terrifying ability to drain you of all strength and will… Life is fleeing me and I have no way of resisting. »

A Kafkaesque trial

Five months after his poisoning, Navalny returned to Russia to continue his fight. As soon as he sets foot in the country, Putin’s opponent is arrested. A series of bogus trials followed, which kept him in prison until his death. “In Russia, it is a cliché to say that a trial is Kafkaesque. Still, the analogy was apt. If I remember correctly, Kafka’s hero walks into a court on some matter and finds that his trial is being held there. This is exactly what is happening here. I leave my cell for a police station, for an interview with my lawyer, and find myself in a court populated by a fake public and fake journalists. »

Fight corruption

A lawyer by training, Navalny entered politics in the early 2000s. From the start, his mission was clear: “to fight people who are destroying my country, are incapable of improving our existence and only act in their personal interest”. From the outset, he targets Vladimir Putin, who will become both his Voldemort and his Sauron. “I knew I couldn’t believe a word he said. His nomination determined me to resist. » A hot issue particularly occupies him: revealing to the Russian people that Putin owns a castle on the shores of the Black Sea, where he gives luxurious receptions and receives his mistresses. The Internet will be a vital distribution platform for him. His political career reached its peak in the 2013 Moscow municipal elections, where he received 27% of the vote, despite increasing pressure from the authorities. Three years later, his presidential candidacy was rejected.

A life’s work

Many questioned him about his choice to return to Russia after his poisoning. Many asked him why he persisted in fighting the Putin monster, despite the growing risks. Navalny answers this question clearly: “One day I made the decision not to be afraid… I love what I do and I believe I should continue to do it. I am not crazy, nor irresponsible, nor fearless. It’s just that I know I have to do it. That this is my life’s work. »

In the dark of Shizo

Alexei Navalny began writing his memoirs while convalescing in Germany. He hoped to write a spy book based on his fight against corruption. Once back in Russia, he must face the facts: Patriot will also be a prison story, in line with theGulag Archipelagoby Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The second half of the book takes place in a maximum security penal colony. In eloquent passages, he evokes his stays in “Shizo”, a sort of isolation hole intended to break the inmates. “The cell I am in is a concrete black hole measuring eight feet by five feet. It’s so hot you can barely breathe. Most often, however, it feels like a cold, damp cellar. It is here that the ill-treatment, torture and murder of prisoners normally take place. Staying there is a real torture…”

The war in Ukraine

On February 22, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Navalny follows the events in prison on Russian state TV. He says little on the issue, except to condemn Putin’s artificial justifications. “Hundreds, and later tens of thousands, of Ukrainian and Russian citizens will die because of Putin. It will prevent Ukraine from developing and push it back into the quagmire, but Russia will pay dearly for it too. »

Lose hope

Navalny collects trials “like others collect stamps”. He ultimately received 19 years in prison. At this point, he understands that he will never see the outside world again. His resilience remains, but lucidity takes over. “I will spend the rest of my life in prison and die there. I won’t even be able to say goodbye to anyone. Or while I’m in prison, everyone I know is going to die before I get to say goodbye. I will miss high school and college graduations. The mortars will fly into the air without me. I will not attend any weddings. I will never see my grandchildren…” The last entry in his diary dates from January 17, 2024. He died a month later “of natural death”, according to the authorities.

Humor and mass distribution

Far from the expected lamentation, Patriot reveals the iron will of a man who resisted until the end, despite the merciless war waged against him by Vladimir Putin. Even if death awaited him, the man also had a real sense of humor, which greatly lightened this 520-page brick: “If they kill me, my family will receive the advance and the copyright,” he writes, half fig, half grape. Patriot was launched simultaneously on October 22 in “dozens of countries and in more than 20 languages,” according to Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnia. Some 60,000 copies were initially published for the French-speaking world.