The whereabouts of Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza continue to spark international concern, especially after his wife announced on Monday that he was moved from a maximum security prison in Siberia, and his current location remains undisclosed by the authorities. Kara-Murza’s wife made the announcement via her twitter account.
In response, David Cameron, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, urged the Russian authorities on Twitter to reveal Kara-Murza’s location to his lawyers. Echoing this, the German Foreign Office made a similar public demand for information about Kara-Murza, coupled with a plea for the immediate release of all political prisoners.
Meanwhile, the European Council has sanctioned four individuals and an entity under the EU’s Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime. Notably, three of these sanctioned individuals are Russian judicial officers alleged to have been responsible for Kara-Murza’s arbitrary arrest and detention. These sanctions involve an asset freeze, a prohibition on providing funds or economic resources, and a travel ban to the EU.
Kara-Murza’s ordeal began in April 2023, when a Russian court sentenced him to a 25-year term for various charges including treason, spreading fake information, and affiliation with an “undesirable organisation”. These charges were a consequential result of his criticism of the Ukraine-Russia conflict. His sentence is regarded as the harshest since the initiation of the conflict, and he was later transferred to a maximum security penal colony in Omsk, Siberia. Till date, no official statement has been made by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Services regarding his removal from the maximum security prison or his current location.
In response to his conviction, Amnesty International appelled on the grounds that Kara-Murza is a prisoner of conscience and his sentence was built upon his political beliefs, urging for his immediate and unconditional release. They further stated that incommunicado detentions, which occurs in his case, are a breach of international human rights laws. Therefore, it’s a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and aids the practice of torture. States have a legal duty to allow prisoners access to their families and lawyers.
Article originally published on JURIST – News.