2024-03-26 00:30:24
Evgenia, the wife of jailed Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, said the lives of many political prisoners in Russia, including her husband, were at risk after the death of Alexei Navalny in an Arctic penal colony last month, Reuters reported.
Kara-Murza, who has condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine and lobbied for Western sanctions against Moscow, was sentenced last April to 25 years in prison for treason and other charges he denies, comparing the case against him to a “Stalinist show trial.” It was the heaviest sentence imposed on an opposition politician since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
“I understand that the lives of many people who are behind bars today for their opposition to the regime are in danger,” said Evgenia Kara-Murza, director of legal affairs at the civil society organization Free Russia Foundation.
“It’s not only about the life of my husband, who is actually a long-time opponent of the regime, but also about the lives of strong and vocal opponents of Vladimir Putin,” she added.
Navalny, the most ardent critic of President Vladimir Putin in Russia, died in a prison colony at the age of 47 on February 16, prompting accusations from his supporters that he had been murdered. The Kremlin has denied any state involvement in his death.
Yevgenia Kara-Murza said other activists were also at risk, including Alexandra Skochylenko, who was jailed for protesting the war in Ukraine by replacing signs in a supermarket with calls to end the conflict, and Alexey Gorinov, a district councilor in Moscow, also sentenced to prison for criticizing the Russian invasion.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, who suffers from a neurological condition after surviving two poisoning attempts, was moved to a new Siberian penal colony in January and placed in solitary confinement, his wife said.
“Now he is being held by, in general, the same people who tried to poison him twice in the past,” said Evgenia Kara-Murza.
She reported that her husband was kept in a small cell of about 6 square meters, with a bed pushed up against the wall during the day to prevent him from lying down and a chair without a back. He is not allowed to receive phone calls or be visited.
Last December, before his move, Kara-Murza had a short phone conversation with his three children, BTA reports.
“We have three children, and this was a 15-minute phone call, which means that each of them had, if possible, only a 5-minute phone call with their father,” said Evgenia Kara-Murza. “I had to measure those minutes with a timer,” she added.