Vladimir Kara-Murza facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Vladimir Kara-Murza
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| Владимир Кара-Мурза | |
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Kara-Murza in 2017
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| Vice-Chairman of Open Russia | |
| Assumed office 12 November 2016 |
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| Deputy Leader of the People's Freedom Party | |
| In office 5 July 2015 – 17 December 2016 |
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| Leader | Mikhail Kasyanov |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 September 1981 Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Citizenship | Russia United Kingdom |
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| Spouse | Yevgenia |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent |
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| Alma mater | Trinity Hall, Cambridge (BA) |
| Awards | Václav Havel Human Rights Prize (2022) Pulitzer Prize (2024) |
Vladimir Vladimirovich Kara-Murza (Russian: Владимир Владимирович Кара-Мурза; born 7 September 1981) is a Russian-British political activist, journalist, author, filmmaker, and political prisoner.
In 2024, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary, for the columns which he continues to write from his prison cell.
Early life and education
Vladimir Vladimirovich Kara-Murza was born in Moscow on 7 September 1981. He is the son of Russian journalist and television host Vladimir Alexeyevich Kara-Murza (1959–2019), an outspoken critic of Leonid Brezhnev and a supporter of reforms under Boris Yeltsin. His father was a great-grandson of Latvian revolutionary Voldemārs Bisenieks (1884–1938), and great-grand-nephew of Latvia's first Ambassador to Great Britain, Georgs Bisenieks (1885–1941; lv), both of whom were shot by the NKVD. The Latvian agronomist and publisher Jānis Bisenieks (1864–1923; lv) was their older brother.
He is also related to Sergey Kara-Murza (born 1939), a Soviet/Russian historian, chemist and philosopher. They are members of the Kara-Murza family, descendants of a Tatar aristocrat who settled in Moscow and converted to Christianity in the 15th century AD. (The name in translation means "Black Lord".)
Kara-Murza earned a BA and an MA degree in history at Cambridge University. With his wife, Yevgenia, he has three children.
Career
Kara-Murza became a journalist at the age of 16. He worked as London correspondent for a succession of Russian media outlets: the newspapers Novye Izvestia (1997–2000) and Kommersant (September 2000 to June 2003) and the radio station Ekho Moskvy from September 2001 to June 2003. Kara-Murza then briefly became foreign affairs correspondent of Kommersant (July 2003 to April 2004) and Washington correspondent for the BBC (December 2004 to December 2005). In 2002, he was editor-in-chief of the London-based financial publication Russian Investment Review. In April 2004 he took over as the Washington bureau chief of the RTVi television network, a post he held for the next nine years.
Kara-Murza is vice-chairman of Open Russia, an NGO founded by Russian businessman and former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which promotes civil society and democracy in Russia. He was elected to the Coordinating Council of the Russian Opposition in 2012, and served as deputy leader of the People's Freedom Party from 2015 to 2016. He has directed two documentaries, They Chose Freedom and Nemtsov.
Since 2010 Kara-Murza has written a weekly blog, "Spotlight on Russia", for World Affairs Journal.
As a journalist and public figure, who was fluent in English and based partly in the US, Kara-Murza played a notable part in the events that led, in 2012, to the passing of the "Magnitsky Act" by the US Congress.
Poisonings
2015
On 26 May 2015, Kara-Murza was suddenly taken ill in Moscow during a meeting. He had eaten lunch at a restaurant and then had a two-hour meeting, during which he consumed nothing and felt normal, before becoming ill over a ten to fifteen minute period, leading to vomiting. At first he was thought to be having heart difficulties, but treatment at a specialised cardiac clinic did nothing to arrest the symptoms. Kara-Murza was then taken to hospital in Moscow. Initial symptoms indicated that he could have been poisoned, according to doctors, and he was later diagnosed with kidney failure.
His wife Yevgenia urged that he be evacuated from Russia for examination and treatment abroad. On 2 June, it was announced by a spokesman for the Republican Party of Russia – People's Freedom Party that Kara-Murza had emerged from his coma and recognised his wife, who was now by his bedside. The cause of his sudden illness remained a mystery. There has never been any conclusive evidence that Kara-Murza has ever been intentionally poisoned.
After his release from the hospital, Kara-Murza stated that it was difficult to "believe this was an accident", suspecting it was an intentional poisoning, but noted there was no way to be certain.
2017
On 2 February 2017, Kara-Murza was again hospitalised after the onset of the same symptoms as his prior illness. He was put in a medically-induced coma and was on life support. He was treated at the same hospital by the same medical team who had already saved his life in 2015.
Arrest and conviction
His longtime lawyer, Vadim Prokhorov, said Kara-Murza had been arrested on Monday 11 April 2022 on charges of disobeying police orders, and faced up to 15 days in jail or a small fine. It was not immediately clear if Kara-Murza’s arrest was linked to his opposition to Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
On 22 April 2022, Kara-Murza was charged by a Russian court for spreading of false information about the Russian military. The reason for the criminal case against Kara-Murza was his March 15 speech to the Arizona House of Representatives.
In July, new charges of cooperating with an "undesirable" foreign NGO were introduced, for which he faces up to six years in prison. In October, Vadim Prokhorov, one of his lawyers, said that Kara-Murza was also charged with treason, which could see him face up to 20 years in prison. In April 2023, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Following his conviction, Kara-Murza was transferred from Moscow to IK-6, a maximum security prison in Siberia, and was immediately placed in a "punishment cell".
On January 29, 2024, Kara-Murza was transferred to solitary confinement at a harsher facility, IK-7, for supposed breaches of prison rules.
See also
In Spanish: Vladimir Kará-Murza para niños
