Maybe, but maybe not. Once there was a young man who became a martyr under an autocratic and bloodthirsty regime, this young man's name was Alexander Lenin. Although his death was not circulated in the newspapers, or widely known by many, there was one man who was changed by his death, his brother Vladamir, and his brother Vladmir did quite a bit to change the course of Russian history.
He was pardoned by Lukashenka last year, since then there was little news, but this week he showed up in a video stream. I found out in Polish media, was very hard to find an English article about it, found just one:
Lukashenka is not better than Putin, many oppositionists are rotting in prisons, but for some reason (young age?) he let Roman go, probably after some devil's deal.
Not all bravery is stupid. When people point to so-called inevitabilities of human character, as Putin and his ilk often do, I'll recall Navalny's name.
I'll also recall the victories that were only possible thanks to people of similar courage. Things looked as helpess for Václav Havel, but without him we wouldn't have had the Velvet Revolution.
Imagine what these people could have done if they weren't at this point... just names that few, even of many few will remember. Ask the same question in a decade.
Do you remember the guy who flew over Belarus and his plane was redirected to seize him? Any news? I do not even remember his name.
Going back to Russia was a stupid move, he could have had much more visibility from the EU.