Who is Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza?

A Moscow court condemned Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza to 25 years in prison for treason on Monday.

WHO IS HE?
Kara-Murza, 41, is a historian, journalist, and opposition politician with Russian and British passports who studied at Cambridge University. He was a close friend of Boris Nemtsov, a prominent opposition activist slain near the Kremlin in 2015, and continued to criticize President Vladimir Putin despite the risks.

Kara-Murza slipped into a coma twice in 2015 and 2017 after being poisoned by the Russian intelligence services. The incidents were rejected by Russia. According to Kara-Murza’s lawyers, he has polyneuropathy.

Kara-Murza was one of a few opposition MPs who stayed active in Russia after it invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and vocally opposed the conflict despite new censorship regulations.

What was he accused of?
After CNN aired his April 2022 interview, Kara-Murza was imprisoned.

He was declared a “foreign agent” and accused of spreading false information about the Russian military’s actions in Ukraine in connection with a speech he gave the month before in the Arizona House of Representatives, where he said Putin was “dropping cluster bombs on residential areas, mothers’ homes, hospitals, and schools”.

In July, he was accused for his participation in two “undesirable” overseas opposition forums. On Oct. 6, he was charged with treason for his Lisbon, Helsinki, and Washington speeches.

The prosecution requested a 25-year sentence.

How did he respond to the charges?
Kara-Murza’s wife and lawyer provided a copy of his court speech, which was held behind closed doors. He stated he did nothing wrong and compared the procedures to Josef Stalin’s 1930s show trials.

Criminals are supposed to repent. For my political views, I’m in prison. Kara-Murza added, “I also know that the day will come when the darkness over our country will dissipate.”