Russian opponent Vladimir Kara-Murza is sentenced to 25 years in prison

a court of Moscow condemned this Monday the opponent Vladimir Kara-Murza to 25 years in prison for various charges, including “high treason”, in a context of repression in Russia in the midst of the conflict in Ukraine.

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kara murzaclose to the known opponent Boris Nemtsov Assassinated in 2015, he was one of the last critical voices against the Kremlin who was not in jail or in exile abroad.

after a trial to behind closed doors, the court announced that it recognized to kara murza guilty of “high treason”, dissemination of “false information” about the army Russian and illegal work for an “undesirable” organization, according to an AFP journalist.

For this, he was sentenced to an accumulated penalty of 25 years prison in a penal colony under a severe regime, which implies stricter prison conditions. The prosecution had requested this sentence.

He opponent of 41 yearsdressed in a black T-shirt and gray jacket, smiled briefly as he heard the sentence from the cell he was in in court, and gestured to his followers to write to him.

The UN, Germany and the United Kingdom criticized the sentence and called for the “immediate release” of the opponentwho also has British nationality.

One of his lawyers, Maria Eismon, announced that kara murza I was going to appeal, denouncing “gross procedural violations” during the trial, Russian news agencies reported.

In his last statements on April 10, the opponent He said he felt “proud” of his political commitment.

“Not only do I not regret all that, but I am proud”he said, according to statements published by journalist Alexei Venediktov.

“I also know that there will come a day 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.

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jail or exile

In provisional detention since April 2022, kara murza was to about to die after being poisoned twice, in 2015 and 2017, according to him, because of the power Russian.

According to one of his lawyers, Vadim Prokhorovhe opponent suffers from polyneuropathy and neuromuscular pathologies due to to these two poisonings.

According to the Russian news agency TASS, kara murzawho was declared a “foreign agent” by the authorities, was accused of “high treason” for having criticized the authorities in public interventions in Western countries.

He opponent urged in the United States, Europe and Canada to adopt sanctions against Russian officials for the serious human rights violations they committed.

kara murzaA 2022 winner of the Council of Europe’s Václav Havel human rights prize, he also worked for the Open Russia organization of former oligarch-in-exile and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, declared “undesirable” by Russian authorities in 2017.

The accusation of disseminating “false information” about the army is based on the law introduced after the start of the offensive against Ukraine, which allows the suppression of any information that the authorities consider to be false.

Virtually all Russian opponents have been sentenced to hardship or have had to leave the country in recent years.

The best known of them, the anti-corruption activist Alexéi Navalni, was imprisoned to early 2021 and sentenced to nine years of prison for scam. he was arrested to her return to Russia after having suffered a poisoning that he attributed to the Kremlin.

His lawyer Vadim Kobzev expressed concern in April about the situation of the opponent of 46 years that, according to him, he suffers from an “unknown illness” and is not receiving medical attention.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.