The verdict has fallen for Vladimir Kara-Mourza. One of the last Kremlin opponents not behind bars or exiled was sentenced Monday, April 17 to 25 years in prison. He is accused of high treason in a case of spreading “false information” about the Russian army in particular.
This judgment of rare severity, with the heaviest sentence imposed on an opponent in recent Russian history, illustrates the relentless repression in Russia against those who criticize the offensive in Ukraine. After a trial behind closed doors, the court announced that it found the opponent guilty of “high treason”, spreading “false information” about the Russian military and illegal work for an organization ” undesirable,” according to a journalist from Agence France-Presse.
As a result, he was sentenced to a cumulative term of 25 years in a harsh regime penal colony, which implies stricter prison conditions. Handcuffed in the cage reserved for the defendants and wearing blue jeans, a black T-shirt and a gray jacket, the 41-year-old Russian opponent welcomed the sentence with a smile, before urging his supporters to write to him in prison.
This is “just political revenge” and he “is a political prisoner, there’s no doubt about it,” commented his lawyer Vadim Prokhorov, from Washington. Imprisoned Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, meanwhile, called the ruling “illegal, shameless, just plain fascist”. Maria Eismont, one of Vladimir Kara-Mourza’s lawyers, announced that he would appeal.
In his last statements on April 10, broadcast by journalist Alexei Venediktov, Vladimir Kara-Mourza said he was “proud” of his political commitment. “I also know that a day will come when the darkness that covers our country will dissipate […] when those who provoked and started this war (in Ukraine) will be called criminals and not those who tried to stop it”, he had said again.
In pre-trial detention since April 2022, the Russian opponent almost died after being, according to him, poisoned twice, in 2015 and 2017. Assassination attempts which he attributes to Russian power. According to Me Vadim Prokhorov, the opponent suffers from polyneuropathy and neuromuscular pathology, a consequence of the two poisonings. His supporters are worried about his worsening health due to his detention.
According to the Russian news agency TASS, Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was declared a “foreign agent” by the authorities, was accused of “high treason” for having criticized the power in public interventions in the West. He has notably advocated in the United States, Europe and Canada for the adoption of sanctions against Russian officials who are guilty of serious human rights violations, like the “Magnitsky law” passed in 2012.
