The defender and the family fear for the life of the Russian dissident

The Russian-British journalist has been convicted of fraud, of spreading “false” information about the war in Ukraine and of joining an “undesirable organisation”.

In April last year, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Kara-Murza denies the charges, but lost the appeal case in August. A few weeks later he was transferred to the penal colony IK-6 located in the city of Omsko in Siberia.

Now the 42-year-old will have the opportunity to appeal the sentence again, but the transport from Siberia to Moscow will almost be considered torture for him, says lawyer Maria Eismont. She points out that Kara-Murza suffers from a serious nervous disease.

According to Eismont, the transport will take place by rail with a number of stops along the way. It will probably take at least three weeks before he arrives in Moscow, she says.

Neither the lawyer nor the family are allowed to have contact with him during the journey, and his wife Evgenia fears that he will suffer the same fate as Alexei Navalny. He died in a penal colony in Siberia in February.

According to the Russian media, it is the country’s highest court that has ordered Kara-Murza to Moscow in connection with the appeal case. This is because the case also concerns state secrets, which cannot be discussed via video link from the penal colony in Siberia.