What makes a martyr? Alexei Navalny shines a light on Vladimir Putin's evil tyranny.

Throughout history, true revolutionaries, freedom fighters and religious prophets have understood a lesson about human nature: When facing an entrenched, despotic and ruthless regime, the powerless can nonetheless overthrow the powerful, but only if they are willing to selflessly risk death while always holding firm to their truth.

For this ancient formula to work, the hero cannot overtly seek death, nor must he glorify it. He must only strive to live according to his principles of righteousness. When the ultimate sacrifice is finally exacted, the hero’s death bears witness to the truth and righteousness of his cause.

When fate surreptitiously choreographs this formula to perfection, the hero’s martyrdom can strike an emotional chord so powerful that it can overthrow empires, found new nations, convert millions to a new religion and immortalize the hero.

The murder of Russian opposition politician and "messianic" freedom fighter Alexei Navalny on Feb. 16 conforms to well-established martyrdom patterns. It resonates in Russia, throughout Christendom, in the Islamic world and with all those who believe in the pursuit of justice.

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Conceptually, to be a martyr is to individually "witness" in one’s life the profound and metaphysical distinction between injustice and righteousness, and then to publicly "bear witness" to that truth through one’s death.

In Western languages the word "martyr," deriving from the ancient Greek, and in Islamic languages the word "shahid" mean to witness or bear witness as in a testimony. Like the etymology of the words, the Christian and Islamic worlds’ concepts have a shared root. Why? Because the connection between self-sacrifice and bearing witness to a religious or political truth is somehow implicit in human sociology.

Navalny bore witness to evil of Putin's regime

What Navalny, 47, whose funeral is scheduled for Friday, did over the past two decades with his life was to actively witness and document the profound distinction between injustice and righteousness in Russia – through his anti-corruption videos and pro-democracy campaigning ? and then to publicly bear witness to this truth through suffering injustice, torture and a horrific death.

The evil of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime and the righteousness of freedom, individual liberty and genuine representative democracy could not be more universally displayed than through Navalny’s saga.

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Over the past weeks, on my "Disorder" podcast, I have interviewed Bill Browder, a close friend and ally of Navalny’s. They worked together to craft the anti-corruption Magnitsky sanctions regimes, which give already frozen Russian assets directly to Ukraine.

I also have interviewed Evgenia Kara-Murza, the wife of imprisoned Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Speaking with Evgenia, Bill and other intimates of Alexei and Vladimir, I have pieced together a loose psychological profile of both men: They always stayed optimistic and believed that justice would prevail.

Despite both surviving poisonings and assassination attempts, they did not return to Russia overtly seeking death. They seemed to have held to the quasi-messianic belief that the righteousness of their cause would ultimately prevail and that Putin’s tyranny would eventually crumble.

Navalny and Kara-Murza's returns to Russia weren't suicidal

Navalny told his intimates that "everything would be fine" if he returned to Russia, that justice would prevail and that his friends needed to have faith. The power of his charisma was so great that they believed him. And paradoxically, he may still be right, but in a longer timescale.

From having spoken to those who knew these two great men, I have concluded that the circumstances of Navalny and Kara-Murza's returns to Russia have been unfairly described in much of the Western media as foolhardy, crazy or overtly suicidal.

Ukraine burns. Republicans and Biden dither. And Russia's Vladimir Putin smiles.

But true martyrdom is not suicide. They have born witness to the evil of the Putin regime and the righteousness of their vision of a free Russia.

The cast of mind of Navalny and Kara-Murza is exactly that of Socrates, Jesus, William Wallace and many other philosophical, religious and patriotic martyrs.

Plato tells us that Socrates' friends were willing to bribe the guards to allow him to escape, but he felt he needed to embrace his death sentence to make certain points about patriotism, justice, the state, truth and transcendence.  Having now spoken to those who knew Navalny well, I believe that he may have embraced a similar line of reasoning.

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Navalny is now a martyr for democracy, freedom of expression, anti-corruption advocacy and common decency. Before it is too late, we must not let the same fate befall Vladimir Kara-Murza and other Russian dissidents.

We are all responsible for this global order that allows tragedies like Navalny's to happen. He returned to Russia deliberately to bear witness to what it means to not have freedom. We must learn the lessons and the truths Navalny has tried to show us. Or we will be bound to repeat the same mistakes.

Western leaders must move beyond merely expressing outrage and implement more concrete actions like prisoner swaps for Kara-Murza and giving the $300 billion of frozen Russian Central Bank assets to Ukraine.

Congress should work with its partners in the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations and Switzerland to simultaneously pass Navalny Acts to seize Putin’s assets.

We must not let Navalny’s death and Kara-Murza’s life be in vain.

Jason Pack is co-host of the "Disorder" podcast and a senior analyst at the NATO Defense College Foundation.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Navalny's death exposed Putin's evils in Russia. US can't ignore it