The Observer view: A year on from his death, Alexei Navalny still shines bright in a dark land | Observer editorial

Alexei Navalny , Russia ’s best-known opposition leader and anti-corruption activist, was murdered in an Arctic penal colony.

Countless other political opponents, critics and dissidents have been killed, jailed or exiled since Putin first became president 25 years ago .

All vestiges of an open society, democratic accountability, independent media and free speech in Russia have been eviscerated in that time.

Yet this is the man with whom Donald Trump now wants to be friends.