Convicted of “treason” and spreading “false information” about Russian military aggression against Ukraine, Kara-Murza is already in a fragile state of health and his lawyer fears that he will not survive.
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The Supreme Court of Russia confirmed this Tuesday the 25-year prison sentence for “treason” of the Russian opponent Vladimir Kara-Murza, whose lawyer fears for his life, given the difficult conditions in which he is imprisoned.
This longtime critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin was convicted in April 2023 for “betrayal” and dissemination of “false information” about Russian military aggression against Ukraine. Russia’s highest court confirmed the sentence this Tuesday, in the absence of the accused, detained in Siberia.
His lawyer, Maria Eïsmont, indicated that her client, who has been suffering serious health problems for years due to two poisonings that the opposition blames on the Russian authorities, He may not survive in prison, just like Alexei Navalny.an opponent who was poisoned in 2020 and whose death in prison was announced in February of this year.
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Since September, Vladimir Kara-Murza, 42, has been in a punitive isolation cell known as “chizo.” “In these conditions it is very difficult to survive,” observed the lawyer.
“Since September last year, he has not seen any other inmates,” said Maria Eïsmont, adding that he is only allowed “eight hours” a day to stay in bed and “90 minutes” to deliver mail.
“Visitors are prohibited”He continued, specifying that the opponent was also deprived of telephone calls and could not speak with his wife on their 25th wedding anniversary, nor with his daughter on the day she turned 18.
The lawyer did not want to give details about her client’s state of health, which she had already considered “worrying” in April.
However, she declared herself “satisfied” that the Russian courts did not force Kara-Murza to appear before the Supreme Court this Tuesday, since this would have forced him to undertake a painful 2,700 kilometer journey on a prison train, a journey that it could take weeks.
In early May, the United Kingdom requested the immediate release of Vladimir Kara-Murza, who is also a British national, so that he could access “urgent” medical care.
Source: Observadora
