The spouse of jailed Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza mentioned on Monday the lives of many political prisoners in Russia, together with her husband’s, have been in danger within the wake of Alexei Navalny’s dying in an Arctic penal colony final month.
Kara-Murza, who had condemned Russia’s battle in Ukraine and lobbied for Western sanctions towards Moscow, was sentenced to 25 years final April on treason and different expenses that he denied, evaluating the case towards him to a Stalinist present trial.
It was the harshest sentence imposed on an opposition politician because the begin of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022.
“I perceive that lives of many individuals who ended up behind bars at present due to their opposition to the regime, many lives are in peril,” mentioned Evgenia Kara-Murza, advocacy director on the Free Russia Basis, a civil society group.
“That isn’t simply my husband’s life who’s certainly a years-long opponent of the regime, but additionally the lives of robust and vocal opponents of Vladimir Putin.”
Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic inside Russia, died in a jail camp on the age of 47 on Feb. 16., sparking accusations from his supporters that he had been murdered. The Kremlin has denied any state involvement in his dying.
Protesting the battle in Ukraine
Evgenia Kara-Murza mentioned different activists, together with Alexandra Skochilenko, jailed for protesting towards the battle in Ukraine by changing grocery store worth tags with calls to cease the battle, and Alexei Gorinov, a Moscow district councilor additionally jailed for criticizing Russia’s invasion, have been additionally in danger.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, who suffers from a neurological situation after surviving two makes an attempt to poison him, was transferred to a brand new Siberian penal colony in January and positioned in solitary confinement, his spouse mentioned.
“Now he is being held by principally the identical individuals who tried to kill him twice previously,” Evgenia Kara-Murza mentioned.
She mentioned her husband was being held in a small cell that measures round six sq. meters, with a mattress affixed to the wall through the day to forestall him from mendacity down and one backless stool. He isn’t allowed to obtain telephone calls or visits.
Final December, previous to his switch, Kara-Murza had a short phone dialog together with his three kids.
“Now we have three children, and that was a 15-minute telephone name, which meant that they every received 5 minutes on the telephone with their dad,” Evgenia Kara-Murza mentioned.
“I needed to measure these minutes with a timer.”
