The rot at the heart of Russia

Apr 16 2023 The Washington Post

How Vladimir Kara-Murza’s case exposes the rot at the heart of Russia

In 2008, Sergei Magnitsky, a corporate lawyer who had accused high-ranking members of Russian law enforcement of involvement in a corruption scheme, was jailed and held without trial for 11 months.

Human rights defenders accused the prison authorities of denying Magnitsky urgently needed medical care.

Among those making these accusations was opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza.

In November 2009, Magnitsky died in custody at 37.

Vladimir Kara-Murza has spent a year in pretrial detention, and is charged, among other things, with treason. He is due to be sentenced in his closed-door trial. He faces a potential sentence of 25 years.

Vladimir Kara-Murza is in the same jail that Magnitsy was, the Butyrka prison in Moscow. And he has the same jailer that Sergei Magnitsky had.

Alexei Navalny is already serving an 11-and-a-half year sentence in a maximum security penal colony, and is said to be in ‘critical’ situation after possible poisoning.

He has been suffering severe stomach pains, and an ambulance was called to the penal colony last week.

His supporters say that his illness could be the result of slow-acting poison.

That may sound a bit paranoid, but he was poisoned with the Soviet-made nerve agent novichok, in 2020.

Apr 14 2023 The Guardian

Alexei Navalny in ‘critical’ situation after possible poisoning, says ally