The struggle between freedom and dictatorship continues on many fronts, the most exciting of which is the courage of individuals who risk their lives by resisting oppression. Jimmy Lai and other Hong Kong Democrats have been imprisoned at China’s insistence, while the Kremlin is slowly jailing the life of Alexei Navalny.
Vladimir Putin’s 44-year-old critic has been pining in Russia’s infamous IK-2 prison since March 11 on trumped-up charges of violating his parole on a previous false charge. He dared to recover in Germany after nearly dying from being poisoned by government agents. But he bravely returned to Russia, where he was arrested and imprisoned.
Navalny has been on a hunger strike after not receiving treatment for other conditions. Alexey is dying now. Given his condition, it is only a matter of days, ”said Mr Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh on Facebook.
The White House warned on Sunday that there would be “consequences” if Mr. Navalny died, and President Biden said on Saturday that his treatment is “totally, totally unfair.” But Mr. Biden sent Putin mixed signals last week by inviting the autocrat he has called a “murderer” to a leader-to-leader summit, even as Navalny’s health was weakening in prison.
The free world – if we can still use that statement in the age of vigilance – must find its voice again on behalf of brave dissenters like Alexei Navalny and Jimmy Lai. They should become household names worldwide, as Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Andrei Sakharov were during the Cold War. And let’s hope the White House takes the “consequences” seriously.