Wife of jailed UK-Russian citizen fears he will meet same fate as Navalny

The wife of the jailed Russian-British citizen Vladimir Kara-Murza has said on the second anniversary of his arrest that she fears every day for his life, as worries grow that the politician could be the next dissident to die behind bars in Russia.

- Pjotr Sauer

Kara-Murza, 42, was detained in Moscow on 11 April 2022 and later sentenced to 25 years on treason and other trumped-up charges, in a case he compared to a Stalinist show trial.

At the time of his arrest, he was one of the few prominent opposition figures who had chosen to stay in Russia, despite friends pleading with him to leave.

Hours before his detention, KaraMurza appeared on CNN, where he described those in the Kremlin as killers. "This regime that is in power in our country today is not just corrupt, it's not just kleptocratic, it's not just authoritarian," he said. "It is a regime of murderers."

Like other prominent Russians opposing the Ukraine war, he was facing imminent arrest. But KaraMurza, a softly spoken intellectual who started as a journalist before turning to politics, decided arrest was the price of being a credible opposition figure. Calling Russians to protest from the comfort of exile would be hypocritical, he argued.

Kara-Murza's wife, Evgenia - who was speaking in London, where she was lobbying for his release - said: "He believes it was his duty to be in Russia and continue to stand with those who fight the regime. He wanted to share the risks with other Russians bravely fighting Putin's rule. And he continues to talk about it behind bars."