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The film ‘Navalny’, available on HBO Max, about the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in the 95th awards show. Director Roher took the stage of the Dolby Theater with Alexei Navalny’s wife, Yulia, and their children, Dasha and Zakhar, to inform the audience that the Russian opposition leader could not be present at the ceremony and that he has been imprisoned in Russia since March 2021 in isolation.
Navlany, a prominent critic of Vladimir Putin, was publicly supported by his wife, Yulia Navalnayawho joined the film’s director, to deliver an impassioned statement.
“My husband is in prison just for telling the truth. My husband is in prison just for defending democracy. Alexei, I am dreaming of the day when you will be free and our country will be free. Stay strong my love. Thank you”.
“Alexei, the world has not forgotten your vital message to us all: We cannot, we must not be afraid to oppose dictators and authoritarianism wherever it rears its head.”
“Navalny” wins the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film.#Oscarshttps://t.co/OizA2V1EIT pic.twitter.com/XKW3M1wJjR
— ABC News (@ABC) March 13, 2023
By accepting the award, roher said:
“Alexei, the world has not forgotten your vital message to all of us. We cannot, we must not be afraid to oppose dictatorships and authoritarianism wherever it rears its head.”
While, Navalny’s daughter, Daria Navalnayahe said he was
“So happy the movie is getting the attention it deserves. Don’t stop fighting for democracy and freedom around the world and we’re going to get my dad out and we’re going to keep fighting.”
The documentary follows Navalny as he recovers in Germany after being poisoned in Siberia following an assassination attempt with a Soviet-era nerve toxin. In the documentary, Navalny works with the investigative news outlet Bellingcat and they unmask the FSB agents sent to poison him in 2020. Navalny, posing as a Russian officer, calls one of the agents outlining the poisoning plan..
He decides to return to Russia in January 2021, while Yulia and a crowd of supporters await his arrival. He is then arrested at the airport and sentenced to more than 11 years in prison in two separate fraud cases, which he says were fabricated to silence him. His anti-corruption organization was banned as extremist. Navalny, 46, is the highest profile of Russia’s few remaining opposition voices. He is serving his sentence in a maximum security penal colony. Supporters say his health has deteriorated after around a dozen seasons. in solitary confinement.
In Espinof:
Where to stream all the movies nominated for the Oscars