Barren Branches in the Blue Hour

The news that Alexis Navalny is dead resonates loudly and like his widow and many others I think he was poisoned again, fatally this time.

The newspapers here report that:
 "They are keeping Navalny's body to hide the traces of the murder," Navalny's spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said on X on Monday. "A 14-day 'chemical examination' is a blatant lie and mockery." Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition calling on calling on authorities to hand over the body to Navalny's parents.
The secrecy surrounding the body and the cause of death are reminiscent of the moments after Navalny's poisoning in 2020"... etc.

In Germany  booklet was published in 2021 named "Schweigt nicht! Reden vor gericht (Don't be silent! Speeches in court) Final words spoken by Alexis Navalny when on trial.

Again translated from newpapers here in HOlland:
" On February 20, 2021, Russian opposition leader gave a speech in court in Moscow: "Russia will not only be free, Russia will be happy." Now that he is dead, that speech is a reminder of his mental strength.
This is the umpteenth time that I say my last words in court! One case ends, then comes my next trial, and again I can say a last word. If anyone wants to publish my last words, it will be a pretty big book. The owner of this great palace, Vladimir Putin, wants to send me a message. “Look, we can do anything to you in this legal system.”

It's true, they can do anything to me, and they do. But I'm not the only one who sees it; normal people watch it and it depresses them.

Well, I have to say my last word, so I will. What can I really say, Your Honor? Shall I talk about God and salvation? Nice and pathetic? The thing is, I'm a religious person. I often get teased about it; My environment consists mainly of atheists. I used to be one too, quite militant even.

But now I'm a religious person and that helps me a lot in what I do. It makes everything much, much easier. I worry less, I have fewer dilemmas in my life - because there is a book that describes more or less exactly what to do in which situation. Of course, it's not always easy to stick to it, but generally I try. And that is probably why it is easier for me than for many others to do politics in Russia.

I don't like being here, but I don't regret how things turned out. Because I did everything right. I even feel a sense of satisfaction because I did what the commandments told me during a difficult time.

Loneliness
You know, the guys who guard the prisoner transport are great guys, and my guards in the prison are fine too, but they don't talk to me. And that's one of the things that makes me feel lonely all the time. Solitude is a very important goal of this regime. The great philosopher Luna Lovegood summed it up perfectly. Remember the one from Harry Potter? When talking to Harry Potter during a difficult time, she says: “It's important that you don't feel lonely. Because if I were Voldemort, I would really want you to feel lonely.” Of course our Voldemort in his palace wants that too.

It doesn't affect me. And I can say why. The commandment, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled,” is actually the most important political idea in Russia today. Without any bells and whistles, it says here: there is power in justice. Whoever has the truth and justice behind them will win.

Tens of millions of people want justice. There are poor people. You can keep repeating that we have a high standard of living, but everyone can see that the country is poor.

To you, Prosecutor, this regime and everyone else here, I want to say: you do not have to be afraid of people who seek the truth. Imagine how beautiful life would be if this eternal lie did not exist. For example, you work as a judge and there is no one to call you to tell you how to decide.

And it would also be great as a prosecutor to punish real villains. No one goes to law school to make up criminal cases and forge signatures. And I can't believe that someone becomes a police officer just so he or she can say, "We bashed that man's head in during the demonstration!" The same goes for the secret service FSB. No one said as a schoolchild with shining eyes: 'I'm going to the secret service and then I can wash the underpants of an opposition figure after someone has smeared poison on them.' Such people do not exist.

Wealth
And one last thing: I now receive many letters that end with the sentence: “Russia will be free.” That's a great slogan. I say these words all the time, I repeat them, write them myself in replies to these letters, mention them during demonstrations. But I always think something is missing. I also want Russia to become rich in proportion to its national wealth. I want this national wealth to be distributed equitably so that everyone gets their share of the oil and gas pie.

We must fight not only against the fact that Russia is not free, but also against the fact that the country is generally unhappy. We have everything, and yet we are an unhappy country. Open a Russian book, read the great Russian literature - my goodness, all the descriptions of misfortune and suffering. We are a very unhappy country. We are stuck in a cycle of unhappiness and cannot break out of it. But of course we want that. That is why I would like to change the slogan: Russia must not only be free, but also: Russia will be happy."