PUTIN PRISONER MYSTERY
Fears for ‘ill’ Brit held in Russia grow as Foreign Sec says he’s ‘extremely concerned’ amid chilling echoes of Navalny
Vladimir Kara-Murza's wife and lawyers worry for his health in prison
PANIC is growing over Vladimir Kara-Murza's health, after the 42-year-old was rushed from a hellhole Putin penal colony to a prison hospital last week.
Today, Foreign Secretary David Lammy called for the immediate release of Kara-Murza, who is serving 25 years in Siberia for "treason," after fears he may suffer a similar fate to Navalny.
5
5
5
5
5
Lammy was asked by human rights campaigner Sir Bill Browder to fulfil his “moral and political duty to prioritise Vladimir’s release."
Browder warned: “If he is not released soon, it is likely he will die in a Russian prison" - but the Kremlin has bluntly refused to intervene.
"Lammy said: “Vladimir [Kara-Murza] is being held in deplorable conditions in prison for having the courage to tell the truth about the war in Ukraine.
“His absurd 25-year sentence shows the Kremlin’s deep fear that more Russians will know the reality of Putin’s illegal war - and is further evidence of the targeted repression of the opposition.
“I am extremely concerned that Vladimir's [Kara-Murza] lawyers are being denied access to him in prison hospital, and that the Russian authorities continue to refuse him consular assistance from the British Embassy."
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded: “We do not have the opportunity to observe this situation, [and] in general we cannot.
“We have the relevant departments, the Federal Penitentiary Service, which deals with prisoners. This is not our prerogative.”
Last week, the inmate was rushed from permanent solitary confinement to a prison hospital - and his lawyers have been repeatedly refused access to him.
Most read in The Sun
The dual Russian-British citizen is serving a horrific 25 year prison sentence for “treason” in a hellhole Siberian penal colony.
He is known to suffer from a nerve condition called polyneuropathy since Vladimir Putin’s secret services poisoned him on two occasions.
The Cambridge graduate has repeatedly voiced concerns about his health in prison, according to his wife Evgenia, who he shares three children with.
Putin claims he SUPPORTED releasing Navalny and says it is 'sad' he died after vowing to 'defeat' foes in 'victory' rant
Now there are fears that he will be the next political prisoner to perish inside Putin’s modern-day GULAG system, after his foe Alexei Navalny, 47, died in February amid suspicions he was murdered on Putin’s orders.
Evgenia said: “For the sixth day, lawyers are illegally prevented from visiting Vladimir…
“He’s incommunicado, his health status is unknown.”
Kara-Murza was first arrested in April 2022 after he slammed Russia's invasion of Ukraine and called for Western sanctions against the Putin regime.
He was sentenced in April 2023 to a draconian 25 years in a maximum-security prison following a “show trial.”
His cruel treatment in the IK-6 maximum security penal colony in Omsk, Siberia, is believed to be on Putin’s orders in revenge for his criticisms of the dictator and his war on Ukraine.
His lawyer Vadim Prokhorov also said Kara-Murza’s life may be at stake, stressing they are repeatedly refused access to see their client in jail.
Prokhorov said: "We are filing complaints to all authorities, including international ones.
“We ask everyone interested in the survival of Vladimir Kara-Murza to join in."
Ahead of his hospitalisation, he was held in solitary confinement for more than 280 days in a row, and was not allowed to communicate with other prisoners or his family.
The British citizen was moved to regional hospital No. 11 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia.
Read More on The US Sun
Another jailed opposition politician Ilya Yashin, 41, has previously warned that Kara-Murza’s life is in jeopardy.
“The threat to his life is not only real, it is immense,” he said.
Life of Alexei Navalny
PUTIN'S best known opponent Alexei Navalny died in prison aged 47.
Here is a timeline that took the leader of the opposition from the face of freedom in Russia and the Kremlin's biggest foe to a hellhole Siberian prison and onto an early grave.
June 4, 1976 — Navalny is born in a western part of the Moscow region
1997 — Graduates from Russia’s RUDN university, where he majored in law
2004 — Forms a movement against rampant over-development in Moscow
2008 — Gains notoriety for calling out corruption in state-run corporation
December 2011 — Participates in mass protests sparked by reports of widespread rigging of Russia’s election, and is arrested and jailed for 15 days for “defying a government official"
March 2012 - Further mass protests break out and Navalny accuses key Kremlin cronies of corruption
July 2012 — Russia’s Investigative Committee charges Navalny with embezzlement. He rejects the claims and says they are politically motivated
2013 — Navalny runs for mayor in Moscow
July 2013 — A court in Kirov convicts Navalny of embezzlement in the Kirovles case, sentencing him to five years in prison - he appeals and is allowed to continue campaign
September 2013 — Official results show Navalny finishes second in the mayor’s race
February 2014 — Navalny is placed under house arrest
December 2014 — Navalny and his brother, Oleg, are found guilty of fraud
February 2016 — The European Court of Human Rights rules that Russia violated Navalny’s right to a fair trial
November 2016 — Russia’s Supreme Court overturns Navalny’s sentence
December 2016 — Navalny announces he will run in Russia’s 2018 presidential election
February 2017 — The Kirov court retries Navalny and upholds his five-year suspended sentence from 2013
April 2017 - Survives an assassination attempt he blames on Kremlin
December 2017 — Russia’s Central Electoral Commission bars him from running for president
August, 2020 - Navalny falls into a coma on a flight and his team suspects he was poisoned. German authorities confirm he was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent.
Jan 2021 — After five months in Germany, Navalny is arrested upon his return to Russia
Feb 2021 — A Moscow court orders Navalny to serve 2 ½ years in prison
June 2021 — A Moscow court shuts down Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and his extended political network
Feb 2022 — Russia invades Ukraine
March 2022 — Navalny is sentenced to an additional nine-year term for embezzlement and contempt of court
2023 — Over 400 Russian doctors sign an open letter to Putin, urging an end to what it calls abuse of Navalny, following reports that he was denied basic medication & suffering from slow poisoning
April, 2023 — Navalny from inside prison says he was facing new extremism and terrorism charges that could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life
Aug 2023 - A court in Russia extends Navalny’s prison sentence by 19 years
Dec 2023 - He disappears from his prison as his team fear he could be assassination. He then reappears weeks later in one of Siberia's toughest prisons - the 'Polar Wolf' colony
February 16, 2024 - Navalny is found dead inside his Arctic gulag with no official cause of death given