Russian Federation: Activist Jailed For 25 Years For Anti-War Views

Vladimir Kara-Murza, is a prominent Russian political activist and journalist. He was a close associate of prominent opposition leader Boris Nemtsov and cooperated with former prisoner of conscience Mikhail Khodorkovsky and other political opposition groups, human rights NGOs and independent media. He is known for campaigning in support of the “Magnitsky list” and other targeted sanctions against people suspected of human rights abuses in Russia.

Vladimir Kara-Murza survived two poisoning attempts, in 2015 and 2017. According to the investigative collective Bellingcat, prior to these poisonings he had been followed by the same Federal Security Service (FSB) unit that would later poison Aleksei Navalny. There has been no investigation by the Russian authorities into either poisoning.

He has been convicted under false charges of "high treason" (Article 275 of the Criminal Code), "disseminating knowingly false information about Russian Armed Forces" (Article 207.3(2)) and "participating in activities of an undesirable organization" (Article 284.1(1)). The basis for the accusations are his speeches, in which he criticized the Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and his participation in opposition political group "Open Russia".