LONDON, United Kingdom: Britain on Wednesday called on Russia to immediately release jailed Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza for “urgent medical treatment”.
Kara-Murza, one of President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponents, was sentenced to 25 years in prison last year, the longest known recent sentence for a Russian dissident.
The British-Russian dual national was accused of “treason” after he said in a speech in the United States that Russia had committed a “war crime” against Ukraine.
The 42-year-old has serious health problems that his wife Evgenia and his lawyers say were caused by two poisoning attempts organized by Russia’s FSB security service in 2015 and 2017.
“Imprisoned on politically motivated charges by the Russian authorities, Mr Kara-Murza is being persecuted for opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” said Britain’s minister of state for industry and economic security, Nusrat Ghani, in a statement.
“The prison conditions are threatening his life. His health is declining,” she stated after speaking with Evgenia Kara-Murza.
“Russia must release him immediately on humanitarian grounds for urgent medical treatment,” she demanded.
After the death of Russian dissident politician Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison colony in February, concern has grown over the fate of Kara-Murza.
His wife Evgenia Kara-Murza told media in Geneva in March that her husband suffered from a serious condition called polyneuropathy, which can cause paralysis, as a result of the poisoning attempt.
She said the decease is on the list of medical conditions that under Russian law should prevent imprisonment.
