Freedom for Vladimir Kara-Murza. Open letter

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The prosecutor requested 25 years in prison for politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, who is in jail on a range of unfounded charges.

Volodymyr Kara-Murza is a true Russian patriot and from the first days of the war he has been against Russian aggression, which brings endless disasters to the Ukrainian people and devours the lives of Russian military and mobilized citizens. But today in Russia, advocating for peace and ending the war is a criminal offense.

However, in addition to this unlawful and shameful accusation, Kara-Murza was charged with another one - treason. His betrayal consisted, as the prosecutor insists, in speaking at international forums condemning the war and the persecution of dissidents in Putin's Russia. These words and opinions were equated by the prosecutor with gravity to murder with many aggravating circumstances.

Today, Kara-Murza is in a pre-trial detention center and is waiting for a monstrous in its cruelty, in fact, a life sentence, in fact, for words, words against the war. Vladimir Kara-Murza survived two assassination attempts in a short time: they tried to poison him twice. These attempts, fortunately, failed, but dealt a serious blow to his health. Despite the fact that even prison doctors are sounding the alarm because of a serious and progressive diagnosis (polyneuropathy, which threatens with paralysis of the legs), the judge considers it possible to keep Kara-Murza in a pre-trial detention center, where full-fledged treatment is not available. At the same time, the diagnosis made to Vladimir is included in the list of diseases that prevent him from serving his sentence.

We believe that all charges against Vladimir Kara-Murza are politically motivated, and charges of high treason are especially cynical. It was Kara-Murza who ensured that the politicians of Western countries realized that it was not "the whole country" that was to blame for the repressive actions and aggressive foreign policy of the Russian state, but specific people.

We see in the presented and completely unfounded accusations and in the requested time frame a vivid example of the return of today's Russia to the practices of Stalin's political terror. Terror against dissent and its own people cost Russia many hundreds of thousands of lives in the last century. This terror began with show trials of political opponents and dissidents, and ended with mass executions and imprisonment of ordinary citizens, including those who welcomed the first show trials and were involved in their organization.

We demand that the Russian authorities, law enforcement officers and judges return to the path of justice. To judge murderers and criminals, not honest and responsible citizens who dared to think and speak the truth. Stop Russia's new slide towards Stalinism and the totalitarian system.

Freedom for Vladimir Kara-Murza!