Oppositionist Vladimir Kara-Murza sues Russia’s top investigative agency

Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza is taking the Russian Investigative Committee to court for allegedly failing to investigate two apparent attempts on his life.

During a broadcast on the radio station Ekho Moskvy on Friday, September 17, Kara-Murza said that he filed the lawsuit under Russian Criminal Code article 125, accusing state investigators of inaction “that is detrimental to the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens.”

“In my case this is detrimental to the right to life […] Three times I filed an application with Russia’s Investigative Committee demanding [they] launch a criminal case on attempted murder. We will certainly reach the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. We will certainly insist on international proceedings against the ‘death squads’ operating in Russia today.”

• In February 2021, Bellingcat and The Insider published an investigation revealing that FSB agents implicated in the August 2020 poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny, were also linked to two apparent assassination attempts on Vladimir Kara-Murza, as well. These took place in May 2015 and February 2017; on both occasions, Kara-Murza was hospitalized due to near-fatal poisoning.