The opponent of the Russian regime, Vladimir Kara-Murzá, detained since April, assured this Friday that the invasion of Ukraine does not have the support of all Russians and asked that “the façade of false unanimity” announced by the Kremlin be rejected.
In a speech read in Geneva by his wife, who received the UN Watch human rights award on his behalf, Kara-Murzá also recalled that, before the invasion of Ukraine, he had already drawn attention to the situation of political prisoners in Russia, in a speech he delivered before the UN Human Rights Council.
“This problem has reached crisis proportions. Vladimir Putin’s Russia has just surpassed the Soviet Union in the number of political prisoners and the segment that is growing the most is that of opponents of Putin’s war against Ukraine”, accused the activist.
According to the opponent of Putin, more than 19,000 people have been detained by the Russian police since February in different protests against the war, of which 5,000 face, like him, administrative or criminal proceedings.
“Dozens of people are still in prison: journalists, lawyers, artists, priests, politicians, soldiers,” listed the opponent of Vladimir Putin’s regime, who pointed out that they are all still in prison for “refusing to remain silent in the face of the atrocity.” “.
For this reason, he dedicated the prize received this Friday in Switzerland to them, after describing them as “the voices of a better, freer and more hopeful Russia”.
“I hope that when people in the free world think and talk about our country, they not only remember the Kremlin’s kleptocrats, abusers and war criminals, but also us, who stood up to them,” he insisted.
Kara-Murza, who had written columns critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime in US media such as the Washington Post, decided to return to Russia in April after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
On April 11, he was arrested for allegedly spreading false information about the Russian military during a speech he gave in the Arizona House of Representatives the previous month.
In October, according to one of his lawyers, he was charged with high treason for publicly criticizing Russian officials abroad, an offense punishable in Russia by 12 to 20 years in prison.
Source: TSF
