‘I live in constant fear that he will die’: Mother of jailed Putin critic says time running out to save him
The mother of Russia’s most prominent opposition leader after Alexei Navalny says she lives in “constant fear” that her son, Vladimir Kara-Murza, will die in the Siberian prison in which he is currently jailed – while calling on the foreign secretary, David Cameron, to intervene and save his life.
Speaking on the eve of the second anniversary of Mr Kara-Murza’s arrest, Elena Gordon said that her worries over her son have grown much more accute in the wake of the death of Vladimir Putin’s most prominant critic, Mr Navalny, almost two months ago. Mr Navalny was also being held in a remote prison colony, in the Arctic, before he was declared dead by Russian authorities. Western leaders, including Lord Cameron, have lined up to say Putin is responsible for his death, while Navalny’s widow has said that the Russian president killed her husband.
Mr Kara-Murza, 42, a British-Russian political activist and journalist, is serving a 25-year sentence in the IK-7 penal colony. He has faced solitary confinement for months, and was moved into a small punishment cell in January. The Kremlin has accused Kara-Murza of spreading “false” information about the Russian army in speaking out about Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. It is the largest single sentence handed out to a Kremlin critic, including Mr Navalny, since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. In reality, the long-time Putin critic merely pointed out what the rest of the world could see: Russia’s brutal assault on Ukraine.
“For over seven months now, my son has been held in solitary confinement in a high-security prison in Siberia. His health has deteriorated dramatically,” Ms Gordon, who lived in England for years after moving from Moscow when her son was a teenager, said.
Mr Kara-Murza suffers from polyneuropathy, a nerve condition that affects his ability to feel his hands and feet. The only way it can be manage is by proper medical care and access to fresh air and walks. Such treatment is impossible in permanent solitary confinement. Ms Gordon said that she believes he will be left to die, or worse, killed and she “lives in constant fear for my son’s life”.
In a direct plea to the British government, Ms Gordon urged the foreign secretary, David Cameron to intervene. Two years to the day since his detention, the window to rescue him is closing, she said. Mr Kara-Murza’s lawyer, Vadim Prokhorov, said that the medical staff at the Moscow prison where his client was previously held told him they believed Mr Kara-Murza could survive no more than three years in his current conditions of imprisonment. That was more than a year ago, and things have only got worse.
“In Soviet times, Western diplomatic pressure and public opinion had pulled Russian dissidents out of camps and saved their lives,” Ms Gordon said. Today, just as fifty years ago, your action is required to save Vladimir Kara-Murza, so that he does not suffer the same brutal fate as Alexei Navalny.
“This is an urgent appeal: please help save my son Vladimir Kara-Murza,” she added.
Lord Cameron met with Ms Gordon and Vladimir’s wife, Evgenia Kara-Murza, last month to express his support. It was the first time a foreign secretary had actually met the jailed activists’ family since his detention. Mr Navalny was buried in Moscow as the trio spoke in London, with images showing the critic’s mother solemnly bent over his grave.
The meeting, which lasted nearly double the scheduled half an hour, was positive, according to Ms Kara-Murza. “I think it went rather well,” she said at the time. “He assured me that the UK will be doing everything it can to bring Vladimir home.”
Mr Kara-Murza’s detention is just the latest in a string of Kremlin attempts to silence him. He has faced two assassination attempts on his life, first in 2015 and then in 2017, both of which his family believe to have been carried out by the Russian security service, the FSB. Now they fear this latest Kremlin tactic may just prove to be fatal – and are urging a prisoner swap deal.
“Let’s be clear, his life sentence is a death penalty,” the lawyer, Mr Prokhorov said. “It is vital for the West to consider negotiating Vladimir’s release. His future, his fate, must be the subject of special negotiations.”
During a meeting in Washington on Tuesday, Mr Kara-Murza’s wife, Evgenia, told members of Congress that her husband was “fighting not just for his freedom but truly for his life”. She renewed calls for US politicians to help of her husband.
Democrat Senator Ben Cardin, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, responded by saying that her husband’s case would not be forgotten. “We are going to work to set him free and to set Russia free,” he said. Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the committee, called on US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to designate Mr Kara-Murza as a “wrongfully detained person,” an appointment that would help elevate his case and provide resources to his family in America as they fight for his release.
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