RUSSIAN COURT SENTENCES PUTIN CRITIC KARA-MURZA TO 25 YEARS IN JAIL FOR TREASON

Mon 17 Apr 2023:

On Monday, a Russian court convicted Vladimir Kara-Murza, the Russian opposition leader and outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin, of treason. He received a 25-year prison sentence.

According to Interfax, a Moscow City Court convicted the 41-year-old guilty of treason, “false information about the Russian army,” and association with a “undesirable organization.”His trial took place behind closed doors.

The hearing was attended by numerous Kara-Murza supporters and foreign officials, including a US embassy employee named David Bernstein, according to the Mediazona news site.

“Russia will be free, tell everyone,” Kara-Murza was quoted as saying after the verdict, according to the independent news site Avtozak.info.

Russia has been clamping down even a fraction of war dissent ever since the invasion of Ukraine began.

The politician was detained in April 2022, on charges of “spreading false information about the Russian army” in an address to US state legislators on March 15. During that speech to the Arizona House of Representatives, he denounced military action in Ukraine.

The authorities added treason charges while he was in custody. Russia adopted a law criminalising spreading “false information” about its military shortly after it sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Authorities have used the law to stifle criticism of what the Kremlin calls “a special military operation.”

Kara-Murza holds dual British-Russian citizenship. Though born in Russia, the 41-year-old received British citizenship after moving to the UK with his mother when he was 15.

According to the Moscow Times, Kara-Murza suffers from polyneuropathy, a nerve disorder caused by attempted poisonings in 2015 and 2017.

They claimed that his health had deteriorated in prison and that he was unable to attend some of his sessions.Kara-Murza claims he was poisoned twice due of his political activity, but he continued to spend long periods of time in Russia.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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