Mr Kara-Murza, 42, must be released immediately due to “urgent medical treatment”, UK Industry and Economic Security Minister Nusrat Ghani said in a statement on Wednesday evening.
His imprisonment is said to be politically motivated, V. Kara-Murza is persecuted by Russian authorities because he opposed the Russian war in Ukraine. “The prison conditions threaten his life,” N. Ghani emphasized. “His health is deteriorating.”
V. Kara-Murza, one of the most famous critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin, in 2023. in April, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for “treason”. Before that, in his speech in the US, he accused Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine. It is the longest known prison sentence ever given to a critic of Putin.
V. Kara-Murza was close to Kremlin critic Sergei Navalny, who died in a colony in the Arctic in February. Since the death of S. Navalny, concerns about V. Kara-Murza have also increased. His family and lawyers point out that Russian intelligence in 2015 and 2017 tried to poison him. Since then he has been facing serious health problems.
Shortly after the verdict was announced a year ago, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly demanded the “immediate and unconditional release” of V. Kara-Murza.
