A Moscow court on Monday sentenced opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza to 25 years in prison on multiple charges, including ‘high treason’, reflecting Russia’s ruthless crackdown on critics of the offensive. Ukrainian.

The sentence against Kara-Murza, one of the last critical voices in the Kremlin who has not been in prison or exiled abroad, is the heaviest imposed on an opponent in the country’s recent history.

After a trial behind closed doors, the court found Kara-Murza guilty of “high treason”, spreading “false information” about the Russian military and working illegally for an “undesirable” organisation.

With all the charges, he was sentenced to a cumulative term of 25 years in a harsh regime penal colony, implying stricter prison conditions. The public prosecutor had requested this conviction.

The 41-year-old opponent flashed a brief smile as he heard the sentence inside the cell he was in in court. He also gestured to ask his followers to write to him from prison.

One of his lawyers, Maria Eismon, announced that Kara-Murza would appeal.

“It’s a terrible verdict, but it reflects the great value of Vladimir’s action,” said the lawyer, before emphasizing that his client “sincerely believes that he acted for the good of Russia”.

Another lawyer for Vladimir Kara-Murza, Vadim Prokhorov, said his trial had nothing to do with justice.

“The criminal case against him had nothing to do with justice from the start,” he said in Washington, calling it a “political vendetta.”

At the same event, Evgenia Kara-Murza, the dissident’s wife, said the sentencing demonstrates “fear” on the part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government of critics, including her husband.

“His conviction shows that they fear him so much and hate him so much for his consistency, for his courage, for his incredible courage,” she added.

“A quarter of a century with an ‘A+’ for his courage, his consistency and his honesty in his work. I am infinitely proud of you my love and I will always be by your side”, tweeted the activist’s wife, Yevgenia Kara-Murza.

Anti-corruption campaigner and opposition activist Alexei Navalny, jailed for two years, called Kara-Murza’s sentencing “political” and “fascist”.

– International outrage –

The sentence sparked outrage from the international community.

The UN and the German and British governments criticized the decision and called for the “immediate release” of the opponent, who also has British nationality.

The Russian Foreign Ministry responded, saying London’s position involved “direct interference in Russia’s internal affairs”.

The US government denounced a “growing campaign of repression” and condemnation for “political reasons”. The European Union (EU) criticized “the misuse of judicial power”.

In statements on April 10, the opponent stressed that he was “proud” of his political commitment.

“Not only do I not regret all this, but I am proud of it,” he said, according to statements published by journalist Alexei Venediktov.

“I also know that there will come a day when the darkness that covers our country will dissipate (…) when those who instigated and provoked this war (in Ukraine) will be called criminals, not those who tried to stop,” he added. added.

– Imprisonment or exile –

In pre-trial detention since April 2022, Kara-Murza was near death after being poisoned twice, in 2015 and 2017, acts he blames on the Russian government.

According to one of his lawyers, Vadim Prokhorov, the opponent suffers from polyneuropathy and neuromuscular pathologies due to the two poisonings.

According to the Russian news agency TASS, Kara-Murza, declared a “foreign agent” by the authorities, was charged with “high treason” for criticizing the government in public speeches in Western countries.

The opponent called on the United States, Canada and European countries to adopt sanctions against the Russian authorities for the serious human rights violations they have committed.

Kara-Murza, winner in 2022 of the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize, awarded by the Council of Europe, was close to the famous opponent Boris Nemtsov, assassinated in 2015

He worked for the “Open Russia” organization of former exiled oligarch and Kremlin critic Mikhaail Khodorkovsky, who was declared “undesirable” by Russian authorities in 2017.

The accusation of spreading “false information” about the army is based on the law adopted after the start of the offensive against Ukraine, which allows the suppression of any information that the authorities consider to be false.

Virtually all Russian opponents have been sentenced to long prison terms or forced to leave the country in recent years.

Alexei Navalny was arrested in early 2021 and sentenced to nine years in prison for fraud. He was arrested on his return to Russia after being poisoned, an attack he blamed on the Kremlin.

Navalny’s lawyer, Vadim Kobzev, said he was concerned about the health of the 46-year-old opponent, who he said was suffering from an “unknown illness” and was not receiving medical treatment.

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