Russian opposition leader sentenced to 25 years in prison after speaking out against the war in Ukraine

Russian opposition determine Vladimir Kara-Murza was convicted by a Russian court docket of treason Monday, and sentenced to 25 years in jail for talking out towards Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on the outset of the battle final yr. 

Kara-Murza, who has survived two poisoning makes an attempt that he blames on Putin, was initially arrested final April after returning to Moscow from Arizona, the place he gave a speech to the state Home of Representatives. 

“These are very dark times in Russia at the moment. These are occasions when we now have a whole bunch of political prisoners, and that quantity is barely going to develop now as persons are arrested for participating in antiwar demonstrations,” Kara-Murza, a good friend of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, instructed lawmakers in March 2022. “On daily basis we hear of recent arrests and new detentions and new repressions towards our buddies.”

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The U.S. State Division condemned Kara-Murza’s sentence Monday and referred to as for his quick launch, in addition to the release of Alexei Navalny and Ilya Yashin, two Putin critics who’re at the moment imprisoned in Russia. 

“Mr. Kara-Murza is one more goal of the Russian authorities’s escalating marketing campaign of repression,” a State Division spokesperson mentioned in an announcement. “We renew our name for Mr. Kara-Murza’s launch, in addition to the discharge of the greater than 400 political prisoners in Russia.”

Vladimir Kara-Murza and his spouse Yevgenia, pay respects to the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., because the senator lies in state within the Capitol rotunda on August 31, 2018.  (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Name by way of Getty Pictures)

The Russian Embassy within the U.S. appeared to reference Kara-Murza’s Arizona speech Monday, whereas accusing the U.S. of “a blatant try to affect the unbiased judicial system of the Russian Federation.”

“What response would observe if an American would stroll, as if to his office, to a overseas parliament, talking allegations towards the management of his personal nation and actively collaborating in growth of sanctions?” the Russian Embassy mentioned, in accordance with state media outlet Tass. 

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Kara-Murza, a twin Russian-British citizen, was convicted below a regulation handed days after Russia’s invasion that criminalizes spreading “false info” concerning the nation’s army. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a gathering of the Presidential Council for Science and Schooling by way of a video hyperlink on the Kremlin in Moscow on February 8, 2023.  (MIKHAIL METZEL/SPUTNIK/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)

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British Embassy officials have attended Kara-Murza’s court docket hearings and have raised his case with the Russian Ministry of Overseas Affairs. 

“Russia’s lack of dedication to defending elementary human rights, together with freedom of expression, is alarming,” British Overseas Secretary James Cleverly mentioned in an announcement. “We proceed to induce Russia to stick to its worldwide obligations together with Vladimir Kara-Murza’s entitlement to correct healthcare.”