A court in Moscow began the closed-door trial on Monday of Russian journalist and opponent Vladimir Kara-Murza, charged with high treason, among other things, who could be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison. the crackdown on Kremlin critics.
Russian authorities have intensified their persecution of opponents of Vladimir Putin’s government since the offensive began in Ukraine, with the Kara-Murza case being one of the most emblematic.
In February, the Russian judiciary extended the pre-trial detention of the known opponent, who was arrested in April 2022, for another month.
Kara-Murza is charged with high treason for publicly criticizing Russian officials abroad.
In addition, the Russian secret services (FSB) believe that the journalist and political activist “has been cooperating with one of the NATO countries for a long time”.
“As a true Russian patriot, he is accused of treason for his tireless fight for a Russia without Putin,” his wife Yevguenia wrote on Twitter.
The crime of “high treason” is punishable by 20 years in prison, but the sentence can be increased if the suspect is the target of multiple crimes.
The 41-year-old journalist and opponent, who was named a foreign agent in Russia, was accused of discrediting the Russian armed forces in a speech in the House of Representatives of Arizona (US) on March 15.
In April 2022, Kara-Murza was arrested in Moscow for criticizing the offensive in Ukraine, namely on social media, and charged with “spreading false information” about the Russian military, a crime punishable by ten years in prison.
Later, in August, when he had already been arrested, he was accused of working for an organization that had been labeled “undesirable” in Russia by organizing a conference on political prisoners in Moscow in 2021.
Just over a week ago, the US State Department imposed sanctions on six Russian citizens in connection with the arrest of the opponent. Among those sanctioned are a deputy minister of justice and a judge.
The opposing team revealed last week that Kara-Murza was diagnosed with polyneuropathy in the lower extremities while in prison, as a result of two poisonings.
Complications from this disease threaten to leave Kara-Murza unable to walk, the same source said.
Kara-Murza, who is considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, worked with exiled businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky in Open Russia, an old movement dedicated to defending civil rights and democracy.
Kara-Murza was close to opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, who was killed not far from the Kremlin in 2015 and claims to have been poisoned twice by Russian agents, in 2015 and 2017, as a result of his political activities.
The opponent has Russian citizenship from birth and obtained British citizenship after moving to the UK with his mother at the age of 15.
In October 2022, the adversary was honored with the Václav Havel Prize for Human Rights, awarded by the Council of Europe.
Source: DN
