Politics

Vladimir Kara-Murza: Russian opposition figure jailed for 25 years

  • By Kathryn Armstrong
  • BBC News

Image caption,

Vladimir Kara-Murza pictured throughout a listening to in October 2022

Opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza has been sentenced to 25 years in jail in Russia for fees linked to his criticism of the conflict in Ukraine.

He was discovered responsible of treason, spreading “false” details about the Russian military and being affiliated with an “undesirable organisation”.

The Russian-British former journalist and politician is the newest of a number of Putin opponents to have been arrested or compelled to flee Russia.

He has denied the entire fees.

His 25-year sentence was the highest quantity sought by prosecutors and is the longest sentence an opposition figure has acquired up to now.

Last week, he stated in a press release: “I subscribe to every word that I have said … Not only do I not repent any of this, I am proud of it.”

“I know that the day will come when the darkness engulfing our country will clear,” he added in remarks posted on-line. “Our society will open its eyes and shudder when it realises what crimes were committed in its name.”

The choose who introduced the sentence stated it will be served in a “strict regime correctional colony” and that Mr Kara-Murza can be fined 400,000 roubles ($4,900; £4,000).

Mr Kara-Murza performed a key position in persuading Western governments to sanction Russian officers for human rights abuses and corruption.

He was arrested a 12 months in the past in Moscow, initially for disobeying a police officer. More critical fees have been levelled at him as soon as he was in custody.

His case was partly based mostly on a speech he made to politicians within the US final 12 months, the place he stated Russia was committing conflict crimes in Ukraine with cluster bombs in residential areas and “the bombing of maternity hospitals and schools”.

Those claims have been independently documented – however deemed false by Russian investigators who stated the defence ministry did “not permit the use of banned means… of conducting war” and insisted Ukraine’s civilian inhabitants was not a goal.

Another cost stemmed from an occasion for political prisoners at which Mr Kara-Murza referred to what investigators known as Russia’s “supposedly repressive policies”.

Last week, a duplicate of a speech he made to the closed court docket was launched, wherein he stated his trial reminded him of a Stalin-era present trial of the 1930s.

“I only blame myself for one thing,” Mr Kara-Murza stated. “I failed to convince enough of my compatriots and politicians in democratic countries of the danger that the current Kremlin regime poses for Russia and for the world.”

He almost died twice after being poisoned.

Mr Kara-Murza’s sentence has been extensively condemned, with the British authorities summoning its Russian ambassador.

“Russia’s lack of commitment to protecting fundamental human rights, including freedom of expression, is alarming,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly stated in a press release.

The marketing campaign group Human Rights Watch has described the decision as a “travesty of justice”.

“Russian authorities should immediately vacate the verdict and unconditionally free him,” it wrote on social media.

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