Press Release, 28.08.2023

On 25 August, a screening of Vladimir Kara-Murza’s documentary film “They Chose Freedom” took place in the central office of the Yabloko party in Moscow. The film is dedicated to the history of the dissident movement in the USSR from its emergence in the 1950s to the fall of communist power in 1991. The event was timed to the 55th anniversary of the demonstration of dissidents on Red Square on 25 August, 1968, when eight young people opposed the invasion of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia. Representatives of the dissident movement took part in the discussion of the film: Yan Rachinsky, Chairman of the Board of the International Society Memorial; human rights activist and journalist Oleksandr Podrabinek; Svetlana Gannushkina, Chairman of the charitable organisation Civic Assistance Committee and a member of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko Party; Valery Borshchev, Co-Chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group and a member of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko; as well as Yabloko leaders Grigory Yavlinsky, Nikolai Rybakov, Ivan Bolshakov, Sergei Mitrokhin, Lev Shlosberg, Kirill Goncharov, and Alexander Gnezdilov. Yevgenia Kara-Murza, the wife of the author of the film Vladimir Kara-Murza who is currently imprisoned for 25 years, spoke to the audience via videoconference.

Yevgenia Kara-Murza greeted the participants of the screening and thanked them and the Yabloko party.

“Thank you very much for creating this small island where people of the same beliefs, the same views can gather for several hours on Friday evening, look at each other and realise that there are many of us. And each of us can do something. And throw this phrase into a dustbin “What can I do alone? I am powerless in the face of the state”, and forget about it. And the history of the people about whom Vladimir made his film proves this.

Even one person, if he refuses to give up, can become the grain of sand on which the wheels of a huge state machine will begin to slip. This is the main lesson of Vladimir Kara-Murza’s film.”

Chairman of Yabloko Nikolai Rybakov, speaking to the audience, noted that people may first feel despair while starting watching the film:

“After so many years, we again hear about the events that are coming back. But then, a feeling of hope definitely arises. A hope that we will cope and finally realise the mistakes made and will not step on the same rake.

Rybakov stressed that the screening of this film was also organised in support of the author of the film Vladimir Kara-Murza. “Together with him we are fighting for the future of our country – we want to change it for the better, make it free and fair. And some day it will become like this. I hope that we are getting closer to this time. And I really hope that Vladimir will soon be able to fully join us in this work again. I am wishing strength to him and strength to his whole family to go through this very difficult time.”

Chairman of the Yabloko Political Committee Grigory Yavlinsky, reiterated in his speech what he had said as a defence witness at the trial of Vladimir Kara-Murza:

“The accusations made against Vladimir are false. Vladimir Kara-Murza is a sincere, honest, courageous and very romantic person. This is his characteristic feature and, moreover, this is its strength.”

Yavlinsky also said, without going into detail, that there is a real hope that Kara-Murza will be released much earlier than the end of his prison term. “There are such opportunities, the main thing is that he stands all this. His fate is so arranged, that there is hope. We all need to think about Vladimir and wish him this,” Yavlinsky concluded.

On 17 April, 2023, politician and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in a strict regime penal colony, having been found guilty of “treason”, spreading “fake news about the army” and “participation in the activities of an undesirable organisation”. At the screening of the film, the audience also wrote letters and postcards to political prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza.

The four-episode documentary film by Vladimir Kara-Murza “They Chose Freedom” is available for viewing at the links:

Episode One: “Awakening”

Episode Two: “Society Against the Authorities” 

Episode Three: “Defeat and Victory”

Episode Four: “Is History Repeating?”