Putin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza jailed for 25 years in treason case – National | 24CA News
Outspoken Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza was jailed for 1 / 4 of a century by a Moscow court docket on Monday, the harshest sentence of its type since Russia invaded Ukraine, after being discovered responsible of treason and different offences he denied.
Kara-Murza, 41, a father of three and an opposition politician who holds Russian and British passports, spent years talking out towards President Vladimir Putin and lobbied Western governments to impose sanctions on Russia and particular person Russians for purported human rights violations.
State prosecutors, who had requested the court docket jail him for 25 years, had accused him of treason and of discrediting the Russian army after he criticized what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
In a CNN interview broadcast hours earlier than he was arrested, Kara-Murza had alleged that Russia was being run by a “regime of murderers”. He had additionally used speeches within the United States and throughout Europe to accuse Russia of bombing civilian targets in Ukraine, a cost Moscow has rejected.
After listening to his sentence on Monday, Kara-Murza, who was calmly listening to proceedings inside a glass courtroom cage dressed casually in a jacket and denims, stated “Russia will be free,” a well known opposition slogan.
In his last speech to the court docket final week, Kara-Murza in contrast his trial, which was held behind closed doorways, to Josef Stalin’s present trials within the Thirties. He had declined to ask the court docket to acquit him, saying he stood by and was happy with every part he had stated.
“Criminals are supposed to repent of what they have done. I, on the other hand, am in prison for my political views. I also know that the day will come when the darkness over our country will dissipate,” he had stated.
One of his attorneys, Maria Eismont, was quoted by Russian news businesses as saying that Kara-Murza’s authorized staff would attraction Monday’s verdict, which she stated had been marred by many severe authorized violations.
In London, Britain stated it had summoned the Russian ambassador to protest over what it stated was a “politically motivated” conviction.
Outside the court docket in Moscow, British Ambassador Deborah Bronnert instructed reporters that Kara-Murza had been punished for bravely talking out towards Russia’s struggle in Ukraine and demanded he be instantly launched.
U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy, talking alongside her, stated Kara-Murza’s conviction was an try to silence dissent.
“Criminalization of criticism of government action is a sign of weakness, not strength,” stated Tracy.
Shortly after sending tens of 1000’s of troops into Ukraine in February final yr, Russia launched sweeping wartime censorship legal guidelines which have been used to silence dissenting voices throughout society.
“Discrediting” the military can presently be punished by as much as 5 years in jail, whereas spreading intentionally false details about it could actually entice a 15-year jail sentence.
Casting the battle in Ukraine as an existential battle with the West, Russian pro-government politicians say unity throughout society is significant. They have described Russian residents who query Moscow’s actions in Ukraine as a part of a pro-Western fifth column making an attempt to undermine the army marketing campaign.
Twice, in 2015 and 2017, Kara-Murza fell out of the blue sick in what he stated have been poisonings by the Russian safety providers, on each events falling right into a coma earlier than ultimately recovering.
Russian authorities denied involvement in these incidents. Kara-Murza’s attorneys say that consequently, he suffers from a severe nerve dysfunction known as polyneuropathy.
