September 7, 1981
Born in Moscow Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr. — opposition politician and journalist, associate of Boris Nemtsov. He turns 43.
Patriots, not traitors, speak truth to power.
He grew up in a communal apartment. He studied music and wanted to become a clarinetist.
At 12, he founded his own party, the Children's Democratic Party. At 15, he moved to England with his mother. While studying at Cambridge, he began his career in Russian politics.
At 19 I met Nemtsov and became his advisor in the State Duma. In 2010, he was one of the first to sign the Russian opposition's appeal "Putin Must Go."
In 2012, he lobbied for the passage of the Magnitsky Act (US sanctions against Russia), which led to his dismissal from the RTVI channel and his inclusion on the journalist blacklist.
After Nemtsov's assassination, he suffered two severe poisonings in Russia—in 2015 and 2017. According to Bellingcat, the same FSB group may have been involved in the poisonings of Kara-Murza and Navalny.
After rehabilitation in the United States, he returned to Russia. He considered staying in the country after the outbreak of the war with Ukraine a "matter of principle."
On April 22, 2022, while serving 15 days in prison for disobeying police at a rally, he was added to the "foreign agent" list. That same day, he was sent to pretrial detention on treason charges. He received a 25-year sentence. The judge who sentenced him was on the "Magnitsky List."
This is the price for not remaining silent in Russia these days.
He served his sentence in an Omsk penal colony, regularly being placed in solitary confinement. He spent a total of 10 months in solitary confinement.
He refused to write a petition to the president asking for a pardon. He was released on August 1, 2024, following a prisoner exchange between Russia and the West.
I was sure that I would die in prison.
He considered his release a violation of the right to be expelled from the country without a citizen's consent. He quoted a friend and comrade, a human rights activist. Vladimir Bukovsky:
It's a fun country, you won't get bored. They can't jail you or release you according to the law.
In 2024, he received the Pulitzer Prize for his publications in The Washington Post from prison: “For passionate columns written at great risk to life."
