President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Biden:
We the undersigned write to express a two-fold request of your administration. As we all mourn the loss of Russian democratic opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who died in Russian custody while unjustly incarcerated on February 16, 2024, we request that you accelerate your efforts to release imprisoned Russian prodemocracy advocate Vladimir Kara-Murza. Kara-Murza is an extremely vulnerable prisoner, and we fear that he may be the Kremlin’s next victim if the United States does not act swiftly.
Kara-Murza is a US lawful permanent resident (which the Levinson Act defines as a US national), a historian and Washington Post opinion writer, a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin, a deeply principled man, and a passionate advocate for political and civil rights in his native Russia. He is also currently being held as a political prisoner by Russian authorities. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kara-Murza chose to return to his country of origin in April 2022, saying that he must go back to stand with Russian antiwar protesters and against Putin. He was arrested just days after his return to Moscow, and has remained in prison since. In April 2023, Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison, the maximum possible sentence, on bogus charges for his criticism of Putin’s corrupt and repressive government and the Kremlin’s ongoing, devastating war against Ukraine.
Kara-Murza’s health has rapidly deteriorated while in custody. His wife, Evgenia Kara-Murza, has reported that he has lost more than 50 pounds in the last year and is facing paralysis in both of his feet due to untreated polyneuropathy—a condition brought on as a result of the poisonings carried out by Putin’s government in the 2015 and 2017 attempts on his life. He was kept in solitary confinement for several months and is being held in a maximum-security facility.
Many of our organizations have been assured that his release is a “high priority” by several members of your administration; as a concrete demonstration of this claim, we request that Kara-Murza:
1. Be immediately designated “wrongfully detained” under the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act.
2. Be included in any ongoing negotiations with Russia.
First, as a lawful permanent resident (LPR) with significant ties to the United States, Kara-Murza meets the legal criteria to be designated “wrongfully detained” under the Levinson Act, and the US State Department should do so expeditiously. On August 14, 2023, the State Department confirmed that LPRs have been designated “wrongfully detained” under the act; Kara-Murza should be also. One notable example of a US LPR being designated “wrongfully detained” under the Levinson Act is Paul Rusesabagina of Rwanda, the famed “Hotel Rwanda” activist. Rusesabagina was designated “wrongfully detained” by the US government after his August 2020 flight to Burundi was redirected to Rwanda, where he was subsequently arrested, tortured, and sentenced to 25 years in prison in a sham trial.
Kara-Murza meets 10 of the 11 criteria in the law, which makes him readily eligible for the “wrongfully detained” designation. The law clearly states that designations can be made on criteria “which may include” the 11 enumerated provisions, but nowhere does it state that all 11 criteria must be met.
The Kremlin clearly considers Kara-Murza to be a high-value political prisoner, shown by virtue of the fact that he received the maximum possible sentence for the fabricated crimes pinned on him simply for his opposition to Putin and the Kremlin’s illegal war in Ukraine. For this, we want to stress that “wrongfully detained” designations may be private (as opposed to public). If the State Department considers a public designation to be too incendiary, a private designation is a suitable option.
Second, it is critical that Kara-Murza be included in any discussions with Russian officials regarding prisoner releases. As a US national, as defined under the Levinson Act, and a person who is seen by Putin as a significant prisoner, it is crucial for both Kara-Murza’s well-being and American foreign policy that he be released. We feel strongly that the United States has a clear obligation to prioritize the release of all unjustly detained American nationals, which includes citizens like Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Marc Fogel, as well as Kara-Murza.
Kara-Murza is a hero who has courageously dedicated his life to advancing freedom and democracy. For his vision of a democratic and peaceful Russia, which is deeply in line with US strategic interests, he has suffered greatly at the hands of Putin and his cronies. Kara-Murza continues to sacrifice to defend the principles we hold so dear in the United States, and he is extremely vulnerable in prison.
The tragic death of Navalny underscores the risks political prisoners, especially high-profile ones, face in prison. We urge the Biden administration to act swiftly to bring Kara-Murza home and to increase efforts to seek the release of all Russian political prisoners.
Regards,
Individual Signatories:
- Michael J. Abramowitz, President, Freedom House
- Elliott Abrams, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
- Paige Alexander, Chief Executive Officer, the Carter Center; Vice Chair, Free Russia Foundation
- Natalia Arno, President, Free Russia Foundation
- John R. Beyrle, former US Ambassador to Russia and Bulgaria
- George C. Biddle, Trustee and Chairman, Civil Courage Prize
- Stephen E. Biegun, former US Deputy Secretary of State
- Michael Breen, President and Chief Executive Officer, Human Rights First
- Ellen Bork, Fellow, the George W. Bush Institute
- William Browder, President, Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign
- Agnès Callamard, PhD, Secretary General, Amnesty International
- Christian Caryl, Independent Journalist
- Michael Chertoff, former US Secretary of Homeland Security; member, Freedom House Board of Trustees
- Honourable Professor Irwin Cotler, PC, OC, OQ, AdE.; former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
- Uriel Epshtein, Chief Executive Officer, Renew Democracy Initiative
- Evelyn N. Farkas, PhD, Executive Director, the McCain Institute at Arizona State University
- Jennifer Finney Boylan, Author
- Jane Harman, Cochair, Freedom House Board of Trustees; former Congresswoman from California
- Tirana Hassan, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch
- John E. Herbst, former US Ambassador to Ukraine and Uzbekistan; Senior Director, the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council
- Patrick Gaspard, President, Center for American Progress; former US Ambassador to South Africa
- Carl Gershman, Former and Founding President, National Endowment for Democracy
- Jon Huntsman Jr., former US Ambassador to Russia, China, and Singapore; former Governor of Utah
- Garry Kasparov, former World Chess Champion; Russian opposition leader; Chairman, Renew Democracy Initiative
- Jonathan Katz, former Deputy Assistant Administrator, Europe and Eurasia Bureau, US Agency for International Development
- Ian Kelly, former US Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and to Georgia; Ambassador in Residence, Northwestern University
- Mikhail Khodorkovsky, founder, the Russian Anti-War Committee
- Peter Kovler, member, National Democratic Institute Board of Trustees
- David J. Kramer, Executive Director, the George W. Bush Institute
- Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, Author
- Leopoldo López, Freedom Activist; Cofounder and General Secretary, World Liberty Congress
- Tom Malinowski, former Congressman from New Jersey; former US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
- Félix Maradiaga, Nicaraguan opposition leader; President, Foundation for the Freedom of Nicaragua; member, Freedom House Board of Trustees
- Michael A. McFaul, former US Ambassador to Russia
- Sarah E. Mendelson, former US Representative to the UN Economic and Social Council
- Alfred H. Moses, former US Ambassador to Romania
- Suzanne Nossel, Chief Executive Officer, PEN America
- Steven Pifer, former US Ambassador to Ukraine
- Pedro Pizano, Assistant Director for Democracy Programs, the McCain Institute at Arizona State University
- Alina Polyakova, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer, Center for European Policy Analysis
- Maria A. Ressa, Chief Executive Officer, Rappler; 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
- Randy Scheunemann, Strategic Counselor, Halifax International Security Forum
- Natan Sharansky, former political prisoner in the Soviet Union; recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom
- John Shattuck, Professor of Practice in Diplomacy, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University; former US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; former US Ambassador to the Czech Republic
- Brandon Silver, International Human Rights Lawyer; Director of Policy and Projects, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
- Gary Shteyngart, Author
- Timothy Snyder, Richard C. Levin Professor of History, Yale University
- John J. Sullivan, former US Ambassador to Russia; former US Deputy Secretary of State
- William B. Taylor Jr., former US Ambassador to Ukraine
- Daniel Treisman, Professor, University of California, Los Angeles
- Daniel Twining, PhD, President, International Republican Institute
- Peter Van Praagh, President, Halifax International Security Forum
- Alexander Vershbow, former US Ambassador to Russia; former Deputy Secretary General, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- Melanne Verveer, former US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues; Executive Director, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security
- Wendell L. Willkie II, former Associate Counsel to the President of the United States; former General Counsel, US Department of Commerce; Cochair, Freedom House Board of Trustees
- Damon Wilson, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Endowment for Democracy
- Marie Yovanovitch, former US Ambassador to Ukraine
Organizational Endorsements:
- Civil Courage Prize
- Free Russia Foundation
- Freedom House
- The George W. Bush Institute
- Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign
- Human Rights First
- Human Rights Foundation
- Human Rights Watch
- The McCain Institute
- National Democratic Institute
- National Endowment for Democracy
- PEN America
- Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
- Renew Democracy Initiative
- Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
- World Liberty Congress
cc:
The Honorable Antony J. Blinken
Secretary of State
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Mr. Jake Sullivan
National Security Advisor
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500