Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died, Russian media report

I think we should treat the question of how political prisoners are treated, and whether they're killed in prison, independently of whether we approve of their politics. Navalny's politics may not have been attractive, but this is still another example of Putin imprisoning and killing his critics, and that is what it is no matter where the critics are coming from politically.

I was just reading a thread about Julian Assange, another prisoner whose treatment is politically motivated and whose politics we may not like, and people there are saying they don't care how he's treated because he was acting as a Russian stooge. We're in danger of losing track of the difference between our moral view of an individual and the question of human rights. Rights should apply to everyone, nice or nasty, and leaders who abuse their critics should be held responsible, no matter whether we like or dislike the politics of the leader or the critic.