Press Release, 17.04.2023

Photo: Vladimir Kara-Murza at the Yabloko congress on the threashold the State Duma election campaign of 2021 / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

The Moscow City Court has sentenced politician and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza to 25 years of a strict colony regime. He was found guilty of treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), dissemination of knowingly false information about the actions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (Article 207.3, Part 2, clauses “d” and “e” of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), as well as cooperation with an organisation undesirable for the Russian Federation (Article 284.1 Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

Kara-Murza pleaded not guilty. “My self-esteem even went up. I realised that I did everything right. 25 years is the highest score I could get for what I did, what I believed in as a citizen, as a patriot, as a politician. So, I did everything right,” Vladimir conveyed through his lawyers.

The Yabloko party considers the persecution of Vladimir Kara-Murza political and demands that the sentence be overturned. Yabloko party leaders and Yabloko deputies in the regional parliaments have repeatedly applied to the court with guarantees for Kara-Murza. Chairman of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko Grigory Yavlinsky appeared in court as a defence witness.

Here is how Yabloko leaders reacted to the verdict:

NIKOLAY RYBAKOV, CHAIRMAN OF THE YABLOKO PARTY:

We will have to comprehend 25 years of imprisonment to our comrade and like-minded person Vladimir Kara-Murza, but not accept it. Is it a revenge of the system? Yes, it is. But hardly a desire to isolate the opponent. He is not a rival he is to such power… But it turns out that he is a rival. Like everyone who maintains dignity, independence, who has his own opinion and refuses to march together [with them] – literally and figuratively.

It is easy to say that the system so emphasises its cowardice and weakness. But just imagine: we don’t know how much time – day after day – [Vladimir will have to spend] in custody. One can express confidence that Volodya will remain free there too, but, again, we don’t know for how long he will have to be within four walls [of the prison], without his family, in the most difficult conditions. Now everyone is saying that he is not alone, that we are all nearby, but once again – we don’t know for how long and in what conditions he will have to stay there.

This is the most cruel sentence to date! Volodya is not just a good person, talented and open-minded, he proves with his life that there are people for whom the truth – whether one call it fundamental, or European, or universal, or eternal, what words fit better for one – is life, rather than words.

Could he have kept silent at all or after the first poisoning? Maybe. But he, Volodya Kara-Murza, could not. Did his family raise him that way? We all know and remember his father, Vladimir Kara-Murza Sr., and we understand what a real noble upbringing is. Certainly, the family, certainly, his parents laid the foundations of his character. But it is also simply an inner impossibility to live if injustice is happening, if the law is violated and the country is thrown back. The impossibility of withdrawing into personal well-being when everything collapses. This is a real politician and a real person!

Volodya, our dear our friend, I am sure we will meet and hug much sooner than this damn time has passed! Let’s live!

Source: https://t.me/rybakovyabloko/825

GRIGORY YAVLINSKY, CHAIRMAN OF THE FEDERAL POLITICAL COMMITTEE OF YABLOKO:

There is no doubt that Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced for his political stand, for doing everything he considered necessary for Russia to become a free country. Vladimir Kara-Murza is a sincere and intelligent person, a patriot of Russia, and these are the people our country badly needs. I wish Vladimir strength, and he has a lot of courage. We will do our best to get him out as soon as possible.

Source: https://t.me/gr_yavlinsky/443

BORIS VISHNEVSKY, DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF THE YABLOKO PARTY:

The monstrous sentence against Vladimir Kara-Murza is the third attempt on his murder.

Vladimir is a sincere, honest and courageous person.

A thousand times more patriot of the country than those who loudly shout about it, confusing the Fatherland and the authorities.

He must be saved.

Strength and endurance to him.

The dungeons will fall.

“Russia will be free, tell this everyone,” Vladimir Kara-Murza said after the verdict was passed.

Source: https://t.me/visboris/10448

LEV SHLOSBERG, MEMBER OF THE FEDERAL POLITICAL COMMITTEE OF YABLOKO AND CHAIRMAN OF THE PSKOV YABLOKO:

When a court passes judgment on a politically motivated criminal case, it is not passing judgment on the defendant, but on the state, including itself. Political repression is always a sentence to the state.

Source: https://t.me/shlosberg/7401

MAXIM KRUGLOV, HEAD OF THE YABLOKO FACTION IN THE MOSCOW CITY DUMA:

I am going to court that will pronounce the verdict on Vladimir Kara-Murza. Let me remind you that he, twice poisoned and forty-one-year-old father of three children, is facing twenty-five years in prison.

His guilt before the country is, apparently, that he harshly criticised the hostilities and spoke about the responsibility for them in the Legislative Assembly of Oregon, the US.

But I do not think that it is the country that convicts Kara-Murza. Those against whom he called for sanctions, considering them responsible for the death of Sergei Magnitsky in a Russian prison, are going to sentence him to a real late Stalin period imprisonment term.

It is precisely those people in uniform who want to imprison Kara-Murza forever, for whom real honest, brave and free patriots of their country are a bone in their throat, a stain that lies across their picture of the world in milking their country and unpunished ecstasy of their omnipotence.

But you should not give them the right to speak on behalf of the whole of Russia. An extra star on their shoulder straps, received in total silence and fear, is the only reward for cannibalism.

Times will inevitably change, these people in uniform, bringing to life the ghost of Stalin today, will perish with all their stars, and the country will appreciate a real brave and loving patriot.

Volodya stands firm and brave. May God give him physical and mental strength.

Source: https://t.me/M_Kruglov/1638