“I have no doubt that the darkness over our country will dissipate”

In mid-April, Vladimir Kara-Murza, an opposition politician, historian and journalist, was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment in a high-security colony. The Moscow City Court found him guilty of treason, fakes about the army, cooperation with an undesirable organization.

Vladimir Kara-Murza gave his first post-conviction interview to Sobesednyk.

“I knew my sentence an hour ago, in April 2022, when I saw people in black uniforms and black masks running behind my car in the mirror. Such is the price of silence in our country. Therefore, the outcome of this “trial” was known in advance. But I must admit that I was still surprised by how he passed – and that in political processes we did not even return to the 1970s, but to the 1930s. Both by the degree of secrecy and by the prosecutor’s rhetoric (“The enemy is in front of you, who should be punished” – his last phrase in the indictment), and, of course, on time,” said Kara-Murza.

He believes that the “indicative Stalinist sentence” was handed down to him, in particular, for his active participation in the promotion of the “Magnitsky laws”, which introduced personal and financial sanctions against violators of the rights of Russian citizens in democratic countries. For this, I was poisoned twice. They themselves show what they are most afraid of.”

Vladimir Kara-Murza told the reporter of “Sobesednyk” that he feels the support and solidarity of a huge number of people – both in Russia and around the world. I have no doubt that the darkness over our country will dissipate. And it will happen much sooner than it might seem to people who today give longer prison terms for words than for murders. “Trust the historian,” said imprisoned opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza.