Prayer for peace for Alexei Navalny in Dresden's Kreuzkirche church

Several dozen people gathered in Dresden's Kreuzkirche on Monday evening for a prayer for peace for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. He died last Friday under unexplained circumstances in a Siberian prison camp. A banner with the inscription "Alexei Navalny is not silent!" was displayed in the Kreuzkirche and candles were lit. The former Lord Mayor of Dresden, Herbert Wagner (CDU), and the former Saxon Higher Regional Church Councillor Harald Bretschneider also took part in the prayer. Bretschneider is considered the inventor of the symbol of the GDR peace movement "Swords to Plowshares". Navalny was honored with the Dresden peace plaque of the same name in autumn 2023.

According to Russian authorities, the 47-year-old Navalny collapsed on Friday while walking in the courtyard of his Siberian prison camp in freezing temperatures. Resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful, according to the prison authorities. Human rights activists accuse the Russian power apparatus of murder. Navalny's wife Julia explicitly blamed Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin for the killing. The prominent anti-corruption campaigner's associates also assumed that Navalny was deliberately killed.