Status: 04/17/2023 11:06 a.m
Russian Kremlin critic Kara-Mursa has been sentenced to 25 years in prison in Moscow. He was accused of high treason, among other things. Kara-Mursa had sharply criticized Russia’s war against Ukraine.
A Moscow court has sentenced opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Mursa to 25 years in prison. The court ruled that Kara-Mursa was guilty of high treason and other offenses such as insulting the Russian military. The verdict followed the application of the public prosecutor’s office, which had demanded 25 years in prison.
Arrested in April 2022
The 41-year-old former journalist with Russian and British passports is one of the Kremlin’s harshest critics. He was arrested in April 2022 after criticizing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In an interview broadcast by the US news channel CNN a few hours before his arrest, he said that Russia was ruled by “a regime of murderers”.
In his last speech at the trial, Kara-Mursa compared his trial to one of Joseph Stalin’s show trials in the 1930s. He declined to ask the court for an acquittal. He stands by everything he said and is proud of it. “Criminals should do penance for their crimes. I, on the other hand, am in prison for my political views. I also know that the day will come when the darkness will lift from our country,” he said.
For years as a politician in Putin’s opposition
For years, Kara-Mursa has been a politician in opposition to President Vladimir Putin. He lobbied foreign governments and institutions to impose sanctions on Russia and individual Russians for alleged human rights violations.
In 2015 and 2017 he collapsed with symptoms of poisoning and barely survived. Kara-Mursa and his supporters said he was the victim of attacks. The Russian authorities deny any involvement in the alleged attacks. His three children and his wife have lived in the USA for years.