He is the latest example of the crackdown on Kremlin critics. The trial of Russian opponent Vladimir Kara-Mourza opened on Monday behind closed doors at the Moscow City Court. Tried for treason, he risks up to twenty years in prison. Vladimir Kara-Mourza, 41, was arrested last April after publicly denouncing the conflict in Ukraine.
He is charged with treason for criticizing Russian authorities in public speeches abroad, his lawyer told Russian state news agency Tass. “As a true patriot of Russia, he is charged with high treason for his tireless fight for a Russia without Putin,” his wife, Evgenia, wrote on Twitter. “I am always a heartbeat away from you my love, and I will continue to fight for and with you for as long as it takes,” she added.
Three cases
The opponent, who has been in pre-trial detention since April 2022, is also the subject of separate criminal proceedings, also liable to heavy prison sentences for having, according to the prosecution, disseminated “false information” on the Russian army. and participated in the activities of organizations deemed “undesirable”. Vladimir Kara-Murza is a longtime opponent of Vladimir Putin. He almost died after being, according to him, poisoned twice, in 2015 and 2017, from assassination attempts which he attributes to the Russian regime.
The case against him for spreading “false information” about the army was opened after his speech in March 2022 before American deputies in Arizona, during which he had criticized the Russian offensive in Ukraine. Then, in August 2022, he was charged with working with an “undesirable organization”, an offense punishable by prison, for having organized a conference in support of political prisoners in Russia. Finally, in October, the authorities opened a third case against him for “treason”, the most serious of charges.
“Foreign agent”
Vladimir Kara-Mourza is also classified as a “foreign agent”, a status reminiscent of that of “enemies of the people” used in Soviet times to denounce and isolate dissidents. Russian by birth, he also has British citizenship, having moved to the UK with his mother when he was 15.
As an adult, he became close to the Russian opposition, in particular Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead a stone’s throw from the Kremlin in 2015, and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a wealthy businessman who spent a decade in prison. for his opposition to Vladimir Putin.