Letters to Vladimir Kara-Murza stopped being sent to the pre-trial detention center

Vladimir Kara-Murza, an opposition politician sentenced in Russia to 25 years in prison, who is currently in Moscow detention center No. 5, has stopped receiving letters sent through the FSIN-Pysmo electronic service. A message about this from the politician’s person appeared in his Telegram channel.

According to Kara-Murza, last week they brought him a pack of blank forms for answers: this is what happens when the writings themselves do not pass prison censorship. Later, the oppositionist was notified that the censorship did not pass and he was answered, including in letters to his relatives.

Kara-Murza suggests that the prison staff were given “a command from above” because there are no legal grounds for censoring his writings.

Earlier, the politician’s wife, Evgenia Kara-Murza, said that the Russian authorities were subjecting her husband to psychological torture, denying him access to children for a year.

• In April, the Moscow City Court sentenced Vladimir Kara-Murza to 25 years in prison, found him guilty of treason, operating an “undesirable organization” and spreading fakes about the Russian army. The oppositionist did not admit guilt, calling his persecution politically motivated. Kara-Murza’s colleagues believe that the criminal cases against him are the Kremlin’s revenge for his public activity. In particular, the oppositionist was one of those who achieved the adoption of the “Magnitsky Act”, which provides for a ban on entry into the United States and the freezing of assets for representatives of the Russian government responsible for gross violations of human rights.
• The Council of Europe called on the Kremlin to release Kara-Murza. In early June, the European Union imposed sanctions against nine Russian citizens who took part in the process against the politician. Among them are the Deputy Minister of Justice of Russia Oleg Svyridenko, who is responsible for the implementation of the legislation on “foreign agents”, judges and the head of pre-trial detention center No. 5.