The spouse of Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza voiced deep concern Wednesday at his failing well being behind bars, hailing his braveness within the face of an act of “cynical vengeance” by Moscow.
“I am obviously concerned,” Evgenia Kara-Murza mentioned in an interview with AFP. “His health indeed is failing.”
Her husband had critical well being points even earlier than he was detained final yr, affected by a nerve situation referred to as polyneuropathy which she mentioned is because of two poisoning makes an attempt in 2015 and 2017.
During the previous yr in pre-trial detention his situation has deteriorated considerably, she mentioned, warning that with a harsh sentence now imposed, the state of affairs would definitely worsen.
Kara-Murza, 41, was sentenced final month to 25 years in a excessive safety jail on treason and different expenses for criticising Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
He has appealed in opposition to the sentence — the longest given to a Russian opposition determine in recent times — however his spouse mentioned she “of course” anticipated it to be rejected.
She identified that Russian legislation barred the incarceration of individuals affected by polyneuropathy, which might result in paralysis, however that the “Russian authorities were not bothered by this”.
Speaking to AFP on the sidelines of the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, Evgenia Kara-Murza voiced anger at her husband’s sentence.
“It is pure and cynical vengeance by the Russian government,” she mentioned, declaring that Kara-Murza’s choose and the top of the jail the place he’s detained had been subjected to sanctions that he had been pushing the United States and Europe to impose.
He contributed to the adoption of the Magnitsky Act, a US invoice meaning to punish Russian officers chargeable for the dying of Russian tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow jail in 2009.
“The regime clearly sees my husband as its personal enemy,” she mentioned.
“Twice in the past… our kids almost lost their father,” she added, saying he was poisoned in makes an attempt “to kill, not to threaten”.
Despite the risks, she mentioned her husband had not hesitated to return to Russia and that she supported his resolution.
“Of course it makes me scared for his life,” she mentioned, her darkish eyes filling with tears, declaring that “Vladimir and I have been carefully building our little world for years: our kids, our family.”
“But I know what he’s fighting for,” she mentioned, including that “through all of these risks, through all of the attacks”, he had remained “true to himself”.
“If I accepted him the best way he’s over 20 years in the past, it might be fairly hypocritical of me to ask him to vary now. That wouldn’t be Vladimir.
“The only option for me is to stand by him and fight with him and fight for him.”
She acknowledged the state of affairs was “excruciatingly painful” for the couple’s three youngsters, however mentioned Kara-Murza “somehow manages to continue being a good father to them even from behind bars.”
“He’s teaching them a very valuable lesson: that they should face bullies with courage, that they should never give up without a fight, that they should accept the risks… acknowledge them, and still fight despite those risks.”
Asked if she thought others would dare observe his instance, she pointed to the “20,000 people arbitrarily detained” since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
That so many individuals had dared protest at a time when “the regime is using the entire arsenal of Soviet-style repressive techniques against anti-war protesters”, she mentioned, meant that “there are probably millions who are against the regime, but are afraid to speak up”.
In the Soviet period, “mass protests only became possible when the regime started showing cracks”, she identified, assured that “it will happen… when Putin’s regime begins showing cracks”.
As for when that may occur, she urged a transparent Ukrainian victory may, after “over two decades of impunity by Vladimir Putin’s regime… finally send a signal to the Kremlin that it will not get away with committing such crimes anymore.”
Source: www.anews.com.tr
