Distinguished Kremlin critic goes on trial on treason fees

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MOSCOW — A Russian court docket on Monday opened a trial of a distinguished Russian opposition activist on fees of treason and spreading “false data” about Russia’s army operation in Ukraine.

The costs in opposition to Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr. stem from his important feedback in regards to the Kremlin in public speeches that he made in a number of western nations.

Kara-Murza pleaded harmless because the trial opened behind closed doorways on the Moscow Metropolis Courtroom. If convicted, he faces a attainable jail sentence of as much as 25 years.

His lawyer, Vadim Prokhorov, described the case as “unconditionally political.”

“In actual fact, that is prosecution for criticism,” he mentioned, including that the authorities have apparently tried to fast-track the trial.

Kara-Murza has been in jail since in April on fees of spreading “false data” in regards to the Russian army stemming from his March 15 speech to the Arizona Home of Representatives through which he denounced Russia’s army motion in Ukraine. The investigators added the fees of treason in opposition to him whereas he was in custody.

Russia adopted a legislation criminalizing spreading “false data” about its army shortly after Russian troops rolled into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Authorities have used the legislation to stifle criticism of what the Kremlin calls “a particular army operation.”

Kara-Murza, a journalist, was an affiliate of opposition chief Boris Nemtsov, who was killed close to the Kremlin in 2015. He himself survived poisonings in 2015 and 2017 that he blamed on the Kremlin. Russian officers have denied duty.