Russian opposition leader Kara-Murza loses appeal against treason sentence
File photo.
Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza on Monday (July 31) lost an appeal against his 25-year-long treason sentence, according to a report by the RIA state news agency. Kara-Murza, 41, was jailed for 25 years for treason and spreading "false information" about the ongoing war in Ukraine. He received the longest sentence against a Russian opposition figure in recent years, drawing immediate condemnation from Western countries.
"The verdict of the Moscow City Court from April 17 shall be left unchanged," a Russian court said on Monday. The 41-year-old is one of a small number of prominent opposition figures who stayed in Russia and continued to speak out against President Vladimir Putin after Moscow launched its offensive in Ukraine in February last year.
Kara-Murza was jailed two months after the war started, and he was accused of spreading false information about the armed forces and declared a "foreign agent". In his last words in court in April, Kara-Murza stood by his political work, including his comments on the offensive in Ukraine.
Kara-Murza's health worsens in prison
Kara-Murza survived two poisoning attempts in 2015 and 2017. The opposition leader claimed the poisonings were orchestrated by Russian security services. He fell into a coma on both occasions before eventually recovering. Moscow has denied any involvement in the incidents
He suffers from a nerve condition called polyneuropathy, which his lawyers say is due to the poisoning attempts. The condition has worsened in prison, one of his lawyers said.
Days back, Russian prosecutors requested a jail term of 20 years for the already imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who also condemned the war in Ukraine. Navalny, who is Putin's most prominent critic, is expected to hear his verdict on August 4.
Navalny was arrested in 2021 on his arrival in Moscow from Germany, where he had been recovering from a poisoning attack that he blamed on Kremlin.
WATCH WION LIVE HERE
You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.