Washington Post journalist and columnist Vladimir Kara-Murza was arrested on April 11 after criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with CNN, formally charged with treason by the Kremlin.
The 40-year-old Russian is a known political rival of Putin. Despite residing in the United States and holding a British passport, Kara-Murza decided to continue writing comments from Russia even when the invasion of Ukraine began.
He was arrested for spreading fake news while criticizing the war on television. Now, the Russian state agency TASS reported that the journalist was prosecuted for “treason” for “long-standing cooperation with one of the NATO countries”.
Journalist Arrested in Russia Addresses US House
Vladimir Kara-Murza has written dozens of columns critical of the Putin regime in recent years for the Washington Post’s Global Views section.
He was poisoned twice, in 2015 and 2017, in what he described as attempts to silence him as he urged Western countries to impose sanctions on Russian officials suspected of human rights abuses.
The author was in a coma twice and always accused the Russian government of orchestrating the crimes. The Kremlin denies any connection to the cases.
Even in the eyes of the Russian government, the journalist did not stop his criticism. In March, days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kara-Murza addressed the Arizona House of Representatives.
According to lawmakers, he accused Russian forces of dropping cluster munitions on residential areas in Ukraine and carrying out airstrikes on maternity wards, hospitals and schools.
“These are war crimes against a nation in the middle of Europe by the dictatorial regime in the Kremlin,” he said at the time.
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After returning to Moscow, he continued to denounce the crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine in the Western press.
The journalist’s arrest came on the day that an interview was shown on CNN in which Russia called its current government “an assassin’s regime” and predicted Putin’s collapse due to the occupation of neighboring territories.
Initially, he was accused of spreading fake news. It imposes penalties of up to 15 years on journalists and citizens who disclose unofficial information about the “special operation” carried out in Ukraine. The occupation cannot be called a “war”.
But this Thursday (6) Kara-Murza received an even more serious accusation. According to the state agency TASS, the journalist is on trial for “treason” against the Russian government. He could face more than 20 years in prison for this crime.
According to officials, Russia has for many years provided aid to organizations in NATO member countries for $30,000 a month, putting the country’s security at risk.
“Kara-Murza was accused of treason for three critical speeches he made to Russian authorities at public events in Lisbon, Helsinki and Washington,” the journalist’s lawyer, Vadim Prokhorov, told TASS. “These speeches did not pose any threat to the country, they were open and open criticism,” he said.
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Washington Post followed case of journalist arrested in Russia
In a recent editorial, The Washington Post cited Kara-Murza’s case, signaling that it is watching the columnist’s case closely.
Commenting on the fake news accusation, editor Christian Caryl wrote:
“If telling the truth is considered a ‘crime’, it is one that Kara-Murza, 40, committed with pride and consistency. For two decades he has been an outspoken opponent of the Putin regime.”
“His friends are often horrified by his insistence on returning to Russia – but Kara-Murza claimed that he could not defend the rights and freedoms of the Russian people without experiencing the difficulties they faced.”
The journalist was able to send texts to the American vehicle even from prison.
In a recent article, Kara-Murza described his arrest as a kind of “badge of honor” worn by famous Russian dissidents before him, such as dissident Vladimir Bukovsky.
In August, he talked about how, even in prison, he could feel the rise of Russian citizens’ opposition to the war.
“Most of the people who write to me don’t know me personally, they just want to express their solidarity and support. Much of this support is for the reason that got me jailed – my opposition to Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine.
Letter after letter (needless to say, all registered in the prison system with their authors’ names and contact details), my reporters express their anger and despair at the war. “Please know you are not alone,” a woman from southern Russia wrote to me last week.
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source: Noticias
