On Friday, the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) published call concerning the forthcoming sentencing, on 17 April, of one of the leaders of the Russian opposition, Vladimir Kara-Murza.
“Russian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Kara-Murza, who was unlawfully detained over the past year, and other peaceful civil and political activists unlawfully detained in Russia,” HRW said in a statement.
On April 6, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence Kara-Murza to 25 years in prison on a combination of charges of high treason, spreading “false information” about the actions of the Russian armed forces and involvement in a “undesirable organization”. , stating that Kara-Murza was an “enemy and should be punished”. The trial was held behind closed doors, but Kara-Murza’s lawyers were able to speak to the media.
Hugh Williamson, HRW’s director for Europe and Central Asia, points out that “Vladimir Kara-Murza has been detained, prosecuted and faces a heinous prison sentence for nothing more than raising his voice and the voice of the others in Russia, disagreeing with the Kremlin, the war in Ukraine and the escalating repression inside Russia.
Williamson believes that “the Kremlin’s persecution of Kara-Murza, part of the Kremlin’s efforts to demoralize and suppress civic activity, must be condemned in the strongest possible terms”.
HRW says Kara-Murze’s charges are based on numerous repressive amendments to Russian law over the past decade that allow authorities to prosecute government critics for legitimate political speech or activism.
“All charges against Kara-Murza are unfounded and constitute blatant persecution for her completely peaceful exercise of freedom of expression,” HRW notes. On March 3, the US government imposed sanctions on six people, including three judges, for their role in Kara-Murza’s illegal detention.
HRW recalls that in his last statement to the court, Kara-Murza compared the charges against him to the rhetoric of Stalin’s Great Terror in the 1930s. He denied the charges and said he was ready to repeat all the words he was tried for. “Not only do I have no regrets, I am proud of it,” he told the court, “for having denounced the war in Ukraine, for having fought for many years the dictatorship of Vladimir Putin, for encouraging the adoption of sanctions under the Magnitsky Act against perpetrators of human rights violations.
Kara-Murza’s health deteriorated sharply in detention. In March, he was unable to attend a hearing due to polyneuropathy, a condition that affects multiple peripheral nerves at the same time. His lawyer believes that these are the consequences of two serious poisonings suffered by Kara-Murza in 2015 and 2017. Bellingcat investigative journalists believe that these poisonings were most likely orchestrated by the Russian FSB and Russian authorities n never investigated any of the assassination attempts against Kara-Murza.
HRW notes that “Kara-Murza is a longtime supporter of democratic values and a vocal opponent of the current Russian government and a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine . He has spoken at political forums across Europe, in the United States and in many international and intergovernmental forums, including the United Nations.”
The HRW statement highlights that Kara-Murza was a key figure in the passage of the Magnitsky Act in the United States, which imposes sanctions on Russian officials guilty of human rights abuses in Russia. The Global Magnitsky Act provides a special sanctions regime for perpetrators of human rights violations worldwide.
HRW quotes Yevgenia Kara-Murza, who described her husband’s persecution as an act of revenge and his trial as Kafkaesque, noting that Vladimir’s lawyers were barred from presenting evidence in court. The prosecutor’s request to sentence Vladimir to 25 years in prison, Yevgenia Kara-Murza called an act of intimidation for his family and all Russians who oppose the Kremlin.
“If found guilty on any of these charges, the conviction would constitute another outrageous miscarriage of justice against a peaceful political opponent of the Kremlin regime,” said Hugh Williamson, director of HRW Europe and Central Asia. “Those behind this shameful farce are personally responsible for their role in this gross denial of justice and must face further penalties and punishments for their actions.”
Read the Ukraine War News Latest Today on The Eastern Herald.
