Navalny Persevered Despite Harsh Prison Conditions Before Sudden, Mysterious Death
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Navalny was held in the remote IK-3 prison colony above the Arctic Circle, built on the site of a former Stalin-era gulag labor camp
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He was kept in brutal conditions, with extreme cold, endless mosquitoes in summer, and frequent stints in punishing isolation cells
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Navalny sustained himself by voracious reading, exchanging letters with supporters, and trying to keep up with current events
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His transfer to the inaccessible prison colony isolated him from the world and may have hastened his demise
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Navalny remained defiant to the end, but the circumstances around his sudden death in custody remain mysterious