Vladimir Kara-Murza during his trial. Photo: Alexandra Astakhova
Jailed Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza has been transferred to a new prison facility with considerably harsher conditions, Novaya Gazeta reported on Tuesday.
Kara-Murza, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence for his outspoken criticism of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, is now in a high-security prison cell in the Siberian city of Omsk in conditions that have been likened to long-term solitary confinement, similar to the ones in which opposition politician Alexey Navalny was placed last year.
The transfer was ostensibly a consequence of Kara-Murza’s refusal to stand up when told to by a prison guard, his lawyer said, adding that Kara-Murza denied that he had ever been given the order to do so.
The news came a day after supporters were informed that Kara-Murza was no longer in the Omsk correctional facility where he had been serving his sentence since November, leading them to voice fears that he had disappeared.
Kara-Murza was arrested in April 2022 and sentenced to 25 years in prison last year after being convicted on three charges of treason, spreading false information about the Russian army, and for his involvement with an “undesirable organisation”.
Kara-Murza’s lawyer said that his client was expected to remain in the facility until May.
