Russian opposition politician and Kremlin critic charged with ‘treason’

Russian opposition and a prominent Kremlin critic, Vladimir Kara-Murza, was charged with “treason”, his lawyer said on Thursday. The jailed veteran opposition leader could face up to 20 years in prison based on these charges, said the state-run TASS news agency.

According to his lawyer, Vadim Prokhorov, the case that has been opened against Kara-Murza is based on three public speeches. This includes his address to the US state Arizona House of Representatives where he said Russian President Vladimir Putin was bombing homes, hospitals and schools in Ukraine.

Additionally, the latest charge against the 40-year-old includes alleged evidence of “longtime cooperation with a NATO state,” reported TASS citing a source in Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).

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The Kremlin critic has been in detention since April for disobeying the police and it was subsequently extended for “discrediting" the Armed Forces, reported the Moscow Times.
The law for spreading false information about the armed forces came into effect after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Reportedly, Kara-Murza also holds both British and Russian citizenship. In 2015 and 2017, suddenly fell ill and went into a coma, accusing Moscow’s security services of poisoning him. The Kremlin critic claims that this was after he lobbied the West to sanction Russian officials for human rights abuses

Meanwhile, Russia has denied any involvement in both cases. This case is reportedly the second high-profile treason case in Moscow this year, following Ivan Safronov, a former defence journalist who was charged last month with 22 years in a high-security prison, said a report by Moscow Times.

(With inputs from agencies)

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