Russian opposition leader Navalny appears in court a day before his death

Alexei Navalny appeared well and cheerful as he gave testimony by videolink yesterday. The camera panned away to show the court officials grinning along with him, enjoying the banter.

His trademark humour was back on show when he made his last appearance, dressed in black prison uniform.

"Your Honour, I will send you my personal account number so that you can use your huge salary as a federal judge to 'warm up' my personal account, because I am running out of money," he said.