Human-rights activist Vladimir Kara-Murza marks 2 years in Russian jail

Doug Cunningham
·2 min read
UPI
Human-rights activist Vladimir Kara-Murza on Thursday marked two years in Russian detention for dissenting on Russia's war on Ukraine. The State Department said his imprisonment is unjust. In 2018, he and his wife, Yevgenia, paid respects to the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., at the U.S. Capitol. File Pool Photo by Andrew Harnik/UPI

April 11 (UPI) -- Kremlin critic and human-rights activist Vladimir Kara-Murza Thursday marked two years in what the U.S. State Department says is unjust detention. The United States considers his sentence spurious and politically motivated.

"His unjust conviction, egregious 25-year sentence, and continued imprisonment demonstrate the Kremlin's determination to silence dissent, punish critics, and suppress fundamental freedoms," the State Department said in a statement on Thursday. "A tireless advocate for political prisoners, human rights, and democracy in Russia, Mr. Kara-Murza survived two near-fatal poisonings in 2015 and 2017."

The statement added that the United States stands "in solidarity with Mr. Kara-Murza and his family at this difficult time, and renew our call for his release, as well as the release of all unjustly detained political prisoners in Russia."

Kara-Murza was sentenced in April 2023 to 25 years in prison for condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

He was charged with treason, spreading alleged fake news about the Russian army and facilitating an undesirable organization under laws that criminalized dissent against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Kara-Murza was detained in 2022 for calling Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government "a regime of murders" during an interview with CNN.

Amnesty International and other human-rights groups spoke out against his sentence and said it was an example of systematic civil society repression in Russia.

In June, the European Union blacklisted nine Russians, hitting them with asset freezes for Kara-Murza's arrest, detention, prosecution and conviction for dissent.

In 2017, he was poisoned but regained consciousness in a Moscow hospital after being on life support and in a coma.

He opposed Putin's policies and worked as an organizer for the Open Russia political party.

Kara-Murza was also poisoned in 2015 and left with permanent nerve damage. He appeared before U.S. congressional committees and called for sanctions against Russia for human rights abuses.

In 2018, he was photographed paying respects to the late Sen. John McCain in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.