A Moscow court on Monday sentenced Putin’s opponent and critic, Vladimir Kara-Murza, TO 25 years in prison on various charges, including “high treason”, against a backdrop of crackdowns in Russia against dissident voices amid the conflict in Ukraine.
Kara-Murza, close to well-known opponent Boris Nemtsov who was assassinated in 2015, was one of the last critical voices against the Kremlin which was not in prison or exiled abroad.
After a closed trial, the court announced it had found Kara-Murza guilty of “high treason” by spreading “false information” about the Russian military and illegal work for an “undesirable” organization.
The 41-year-old leader who has Russian and British passport He was sentenced to an accumulated sentence of 25 years in prison a penal colony under strict regimewhich implies stricter conditions of detention, in accordance with a request in this regard formulated by the prosecution.
The opponent, dressed in a black T-shirt and gray jacket, he smiled briefly upon hearing the sentence from the cell in which he was in court, and motioned to his followers to write to him.
UN, Germany and UK he criticized the ruling and requested the “immediate release” of the opponent, who is also a British national.
One of his lawyers, Maria Eismon, announced that Kara-Murza would appeal, alleging “serious procedural violations” during the trial, Russian news agencies said.
In his latest statements on April 10, the opponent said he felt “proud” of his political commitment.
“Not only do I not regret any of this, but I am proud of it,” he said, according to published statements by journalist Alexei Venediktov.
“I also know that a day will come when the darkness that covers our country will dissipate… when those who instigated and provoked this war (in Ukraine) will be branded as criminals, and not those who tried to stop it” , He added.
poisoned
In provisional detention since April 2022, Kara-Murza was a about to die after being poisoned twice, in 2015 and 2017, according to him, by order of the Russian power.
One of his lawyers, Vadim Prokhorov, said the opponent suffers from polyneuropathy and neuromuscular pathologies due to these two poisonings.
According to the Russian news agency TASS, Kara-Murza, who was declared “foreign agent” by the authorities he was accused of “high treason” for criticizing the power in public interventions in western countries.
The opponent urged the United States, Europe and Canada to adopt sanctions against Russian officials for the gross human rights violations they committed.
Kara-Murza, winner in Václav Havel Prize for Human Rights 2022 awarded by the Council of Europe, he also worked for the Open Russia organization of exiled former oligarch and Kremlin detractor Mikhail Khodorkovsky, declared “undesirable” by the Russian authorities in 2017.
The accusation of spreading “false information” about the army is based the law introduced after the start of the offensive against Ukrainewhich allows you to suppress any information that the authorities deem false.
Virtually all of Russia’s opponents have been sentenced to harsh sentences or had to flee the country in the last few years.
The best known of them, anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, was jailed in early 2021 and sentenced to nine years in prison for fraud. He was arrested upon his return to Russia after suffering a poisoning which he blamed on the Kremlin.
His lawyer Vadim Kobzev expressed his concern in April about the situation of his 46-year-old opponent who, according to him, suffers from an “unknown disease” and is not receiving medical treatment.
AFP extension
ap
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.