Vladimir Kara-Murza, a close friend of Boris Nemtsov and one of the most prominent members of the liberal and anti-nationalist opposition to Vladimir Putin, was arrested at his home in Moscow on April 11, 2022 and sentenced to 15 days in prison — for now.
A brilliant personality, a regular columnist for The Washington Post and a tireless presence in the world’s most renown media, he had already escaped two attempts to poison him when he called for heavy sanctions against Russian leaders guilty of major human rights violations. More recently, he had, together with other opposition figures, created a committee against the Russian war in Ukraine. Shortly before his arrest, he denounced the Kremlin’s crimes on CNN.
Urged by many of his friends not to return to Russia because of the risks involved, he had always stated that his struggle had to be waged on the spot and that it was impossible to ask Russians to demonstrate against Putin’s power without being there himself. He also regularly considered that the war against Ukraine would sign the end of Putin’s regime, even if we could not know the moment or the modalities.
Nicolas Tenzer, Editor of Desk Russie, Galia Ackerman, Editor-in-chief, and the entire editorial staff call for Vladimir’s immediate release and appeal to Western leaders to raise their voices. We will be following events concerning him very closely in the coming days and weeks.
