Opponent Vladimir Kara-Murza, who is detained in Siberia, yesterday appealed to Russians not to “despair” and continue to fight for democracy, referring to the death of Alexei Navalny in prison
“I still can’t understand what happened, neither rationally nor emotionally. But if we give in to sadness and despair, that’s exactly what they want.
We have no right to do so, we owe it to our comrades who fell,” Kara-Murza said during a videoconference court hearing.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a friend of Alexei Navalny, was also close to Boris Nemtsov, a political opponent killed near the Kremlin, Moscow, in 2015. Kara-Murza managed to transmit a message published on social media by the team accompanying him, last Tuesday -fair.
“The responsibility for the death of Alexei Navalny lies with Vladimir Putin, since Alexei was a personal prisoner (of the head of state),” he wrote.
“A vengeful, fearful and greedy old man maintains the domain of death, destroying everything he considers to be a threat to power”, added the opponent, referring to President Vladimir Putin.
Kara-Murza, a Russian-British citizen, was sentenced to 25 years in prison following being accused of treason, spreading “false information” regarding the Russian Army and maintaining links with an “undesirable organization”.
This sentence is the heaviest sentence imposed on an opponent in recent Russian history. According to supporters, Kara-Murza’s health condition is very fragile, due to the fact that he was poisoned twice in the past.
In the last message, he claims to have learned of Alexei Navalny’s death through the radio receiver he has in his cell, on February 16th, when the Russian prison administration issued a brief statement announcing the death of Vladimir’s main opponent. Putin. From prison in Siberia, Kara-Murza expressed hope.
“Making Russia a normal, free and democratic European country (…) Alexei (Navalny) said: ‘Don’t give up. It’s impossible to give up,’” Kara-Murza said.