On June 3, 2024, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) received a joint petition concerning Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian opposition politician and a vocal Kremlin critic. The petition was submitted by Free Russia Foundation (FRF), along with the Centre de la Protection Internationale (CPI), Freedom House, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), Global Justice Advisors, McCain Institute, and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR).
The petition urges the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to declare the detention of Vladimir Kara-Murza arbitrary and to demand his immediate release by the Russian authorities. This request follows a similar appeal to the US State Department urging the agency to classify Mr. Kara-Murza, who is a lawful permanent resident of the US, as wrongfully detained and facilitate his return to the US.
Mr. Kara-Murza is a staunch advocate for democracy and human rights in Russia. He survived two near-fatal poisonings in 2015 and 2017, widely believed to have been orchestrated by the Russian government. As a result of these incidents he has developed a medical condition known as polyneuropathy.
Vladimir Kara-Murza was detained on April 11, 2022, during a visit to Moscow and was subsequently sentenced to a 25-year term in April 2023 for “public dissemination of knowingly false information about the Russian Armed Forces”, “carrying out the activities of an undesirable organization,” and “high treason.”
The accusations against him were based on his public denunciations of the Kremlin’s human rights abuses and the war in Ukraine, his association with Free Russia Foundation—an organization designated as «undesirable» by the Russian government, a decision recently declared unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights—and his «cooperation with a NATO country.»
The June 3 petition asserts that Mr. Kara-Murza’s imprisonment is a consequence of his exercising basic rights, such as freedom of speech. The complaint also enumerates several infringements of the right to a fair trial, including limited access to legal representation, refusal of family visits, denial of a public hearing before an unbiased and impartial court, and denial of necessary medical care, among other things.
Vladimir Kara-Murza is currently serving his sentence in a penal colony in Omsk, Siberia. His health has significantly deteriorated under these harsh conditions; he has lost over 50 pounds and suffers from numbness in his limbs. With Russian officials persistently denying Mr. Kara-Murza crucial medical care, experts are concerned that he may not survive another year under these circumstances.