After the death of Alexeï Navalny, a Russian court rejected an appeal by opponent Vladimir Kara-Mourza, maintaining his 25-year prison sentence for “treason”.
During the court hearing via videoconference, Vladimir Kara-Mourza spoke: “I still cannot realize what happened, rationally or emotionally.
But if we give in to gloom and despair, that's exactly what they want.
We have no right to do this, we owe it to our fallen comrades.
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This 25-year prison sentence is one of the heaviest against a major opponent in recent years, in the midst of repression in Russia since the assault on Ukraine almost two years ago.
The opponent was convicted in April of "high treason", dissemination of "false information" about the Russian army and illegal work for an "undesirable" organization.
For his part, Vladimir Kara-Mourza said he was “proud” of his political commitment during his last statements before his conviction.
In a special cell in solitary confinement
His lawyer, Maria Eismont, forwarded a letter from Vladimir Kara-Mourza published Tuesday by the media Novaya Gazeta, in which he indicates that he was transferred from penal colony No. 6 in Omsk, Siberia, to another, No. 7, in the same city.
“On Friday, I was summoned without warning to a “commission” for yet another “malicious offense”, when I did not get up at the signal “Stand up!”
“in his cell which they did not sound,” he wrote.
The opponent will be placed in a special cell in solitary confinement at least until May 26, but "these deadlines may change", he indicated, particularly in the event of accusations of new violations on his part during of his detention.
The day before, his wife, Evguénia Kara-Mourza, who lives in exile abroad, was worried about his transfer to “an unknown place”.
German and British diplomats then became concerned about his fate.
The opponent almost died after being poisoned twice, in 2015 and 2017, in assassination attempts that he attributes to Russian power.
Since then he has suffered from a nerve condition called polyneuropathy.
Both the United States and the European Union denounced this conviction.
The United Kingdom announced sanctions on Monday evening against six Russians “who played a leading role in the deplorable conviction” of Vladimir Kara-Mourza, who has dual nationality.
London specified that it had sanctioned three judges, two prosecutors and an expert witness for the prosecution for their role in this “politically motivated” decision, considering that Vladimir Kara-Murza is “persecuted by the Russian regime because of his anti- war ".