CNN —Alexey Navalny once represented an alternative future for Russia: an optimistic, forward-looking place, free of the one-man rule of Russian President Vladimir Putin. It would be hard to overstate how profoundly Navalny symbolized Putin’s relentless drive to erase the last remnants of political opposition from Russia. Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty ImagesWhat followed was a parody of criminal justice, as Russian prosecutors heaped on charges against Navalny, who continued to rail against Putin. Navalny had emerged as the most prominent leader of the Russian opposition following the assassination of outspoken Putin critic Boris Nemtsov in 2015, in plain view of the Kremlin. Putin famously refused to utter Navalny’s name, hinting at the deep unease about the legitimacy Navalny commanded as opposition leader.

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Persons: CNN — Alexey Navalny, Vladimir Putin, Navalny, Alexei Navalny, Kirill Kudryavtsev, gaunt, “, ” Navalny, –, ”, I’m, Yulia, Vasily Maximov, Putin, Boris Nadezhdin, Boris Nemtsov, Nemtsov, Lyubov Sobol, Mikheil Saakashvili –, Ukraine’s, Saakashvili, ’ ” Organizations: CNN, Getty, Putin, IK, Valentine’s, “, Twitter Locations: Russia, Moscow, Berlin, AFP, Kharp, Autonomous Okrug, Ukraine, Russian, Navalny, Kyiv’s