Jailed opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza on Thursday urged Russians to keep fighting for democracy despite the death of Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison.
Navalny's death last week sent shockwaves through Russia's opposition, most of which is either in exile, behind bars, or dead.
"I still cannot comprehend what has happened, rationally or emotionally. But if we give in to gloom and despair, that's exactly what they want. We have no right to do that, we owe it to our fallen comrades," Kara-Murza said.
A dual Russian and British citizen, Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison last year.
His is the longest-known sentence of all of President Vladimir Putin's jailed critics.
Kara-Murza was also close to Boris Nemtsov, another opposition politician who was killed near the Kremlin in 2015.
And Navalny's death last week raised fears for remaining Kremlin critics imprisoned in Russia.
Kara-Murza's own health has deteriorated in prison — he suffers from serious health problems due to two poisonings, according to his lawyers.
But from his prison in Siberia, Kara-Murza professed hope to "make Russia a normal, free European democratic country."
"Alexei said: don't give up. It's impossible to give up," he said.
