The European Union (EU) condemned this Monday the “scandalously harsh” sentence of Russia against the opponent and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murzá to 25 years in prison and asked his “immediate” release and that of the rest of the prisoners for political reasons. “Today’s outrageously harsh court decision clearly demonstrates yet again the political misuse of the judiciary to pressure activists, human rights defenders and any voice that opposes to Russia’s illegitimate war against Ukraine”said the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, in a statement.
The head of European diplomacy assured that the trial did not meet international standards on the right to have an impartial and independent court and recalled that in his last plea, Kara-Murzá said the case reminded him of trials in the 1930s, during the Soviet Union period. The Urgan Court of Moscow today sentenced the opponent to 25 years in prison -as requested by the Prosecutor’s Office- for a crime of high treason, dissemination of “false” information about the actions of the Russian Army in Ukraine and cooperation with an NGO declared undesirable by the Russian Justice.
In addition, he imposed a fine of 400,000 rubles (about $5,000) and banned him from practicing journalism for seven years. Kara-Murzá’s lawyers – who had been in pretrial detention for a year and a half – have announced that they will appeal the sentence. In the statement, Borrell also asked the Russian authorities to guarantee the opponent and journalist “adequate” medical attention, since according to his lawyers, he has been diagnosed with polyneuropathy in prison. in the lower extremities as a result of the two poisonings he suffered in 2015 and 2017.
According to the Bellingcat investigative group, he had also previously been followed by the same unit of the Federal Security Service that later poisoned opposition leader Alexéi Navalni, who in turn is serving eight years in prison. Borrell also called on Moscow to repeal its “oppressive” laws such as those that censor “true” information about the Russian war and that of “foreign agents”.
