The wife of Vladimir Kara-Mourza, a Russian opponent who is serving a 25-year prison sentence, said she was in favor of an exchange of political prisoners when
“human lives are at stake”
.
The entourage of Alexeï Navalny, with whom Vladimir Kara-Mourza was a long-time friend, had affirmed that an agreement with the Russian authorities to exchange him was
“in progress and in its final phase”
, before his death mid- February in an Arctic penal colony.
Asked about the existence of similar discussions regarding Vladimir Kara-Mourza, another opposition leader, his wife Evguenia, said she did not know if there were
“active negotiations”
.
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“But I know it was a method of freeing some dissidents during the Soviet era. I think that if it was possible in the Soviet era during the Cold War (...), it is certainly possible today
,” she declared during a press conference organized by the Association of Correspondents at the UN (Acanu).
Lives “in danger”
Vladimir Kara-Mourza, a Russian-British citizen, was sentenced in April 2023 to 25 years in prison for treason and spreading
“false information”
about the Russian army.
This is the heaviest sentence imposed on an opponent in recent Russian history.
He is also in very poor health, according to his supporters, the result of two poisonings he suffered in the past, in 2015 and 2017. He suffers from a nervous disease called polyneuropathy.
His wife stressed that his detention regime was “very strict”.
“For more than six months now, he has not received any medical treatment and his health is deteriorating
,” she lamented.
“All of these people
held behind bars
with serious health problems and whose health is rapidly deteriorating are being deprived of much-needed medical care.
(...) Their lives are in danger.
So I think that everything must be done to save these people today
,” pleaded Evguenia Kara-Mourza.
“In cases where human lives are at stake, and there are a number of such cases in Russia today, I believe that all methods should be used to save the lives of these people
,” he said. she reaffirmed.
A number of Russian opponents have been imprisoned or driven into exile in recent years and repression has increased further since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.