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, and filmmaker. He 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.
In April 2022, Kara-Murza was arrested on charges of disobeying police orders; later his arrest was extended after new charges of "discrediting" the military were introduced, and in October, new charges of treason were introduced against him. Amnesty International and others called the charges politically motivated. In October 2022, Kara-Murza was awarded the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize.
In April 2023, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. 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.
Kara-Murza earned a BA and an MA degree in history at Cambridge University. With his wife, Yevgenia, he has three children.
Career
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Kara-Murza became a journalist at the age of 16. He worked as London correspondent for a succession of Russian media outlets, including Novye Izvestia from 1997 to 2000, Kommersant from 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. On 1 September 2012 he was dismissed from this job.
In 2005, Kara-Murza produced a four-part TV documentary, They Chose Freedom, dedicated to the history of the Soviet dissident movement. The documentary was based on interviews with Russian dissidents. It was first aired in October 2005.
From 1999 to 2001, Kara-Murza was a member of the Democratic Choice of Russia party; from 2001 to 2008 he was a member of the Union of Right Forces. Between 2000 and 2003 he served as an advisor to State Duma opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. He has been in opposition to Vladimir Putin since 2000, backing liberal candidate Grigory Yavlinsky in the 2000 presidential election.
Kara-Murza was a candidate for election to the Russian parliament, or State Duma, in the 2003 parliamentary election, running in Moscow's Chertanovsky district. His candidacy was endorsed jointly by the Union of Right Forces and Yabloko. He lost the election receiving only 8.6%) of the votes.
At the founding convention of Solidarnost, Russia's united democratic movement, in December 2008, Kara-Murza was elected to the movement's federal council, placing second out of 77 candidates, behind Nemtsov. He was re-elected to the Solidarnost council in 2010 and 2013.
In 2012, he took part in the street protests in Moscow against Putin's rule, the largest pro-democracy demonstrations in Russia since 1991.
In June 2012, Kara-Murza was elected to the federal council of the Republican Party of Russia – People's Freedom Party, co-chaired by Boris Nemtsov, Mikhail Kasyanov, and Vladimir Ryzhkov. In October 2012, he was elected to the Coordinating Council of the Russian Opposition, placing 21st out of 169 candidates and receiving 20,845 votes.
Kara-Murza is a coordinator of the Open Russia Foundation, founded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The organisation was created with the goal of promoting civil society and democracy in Russia.
As a journalist who was fluent in English and based partly in the U.S., Kara-Murza played a role in the events that led to the 2012 passage of the Magnitsky Act by the U.S. 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 imprisonment
On Monday 11 April 2022, Kara-Murza was arrested on charges of disobeying police orders, and faced up to 15 days in jail or a small fine.
On 22 April 2022, Kara-Murza was charged by a Russian court for allegedly 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 October 2022, Kara-Murza was awarded the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
In April 2023, one of Kara-Murza's lawyers said that Russian prosecutors asked for a 25-year prison sentence, the maximum possible. Additionally, the prosecution also asked for the sentence to be served in a "strict regime" prison colony where conditions are harsh, and where prisoners are held in locked cells rather than barracks. On 17 April 2023, he was convicted on charges of treason and "spreading disinformation" about the Russian military, and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
On January 29, 2024, it was reported that Kara-Murza had disappeared. British foreign secretary David Cameron demanded that Russia account for Kara-Murza's whereabouts. It later emerged that Kara-Murza had been transferred to solitary confinement at a harsher facility, IK-7, for supposed breaches of prison rules.
See also
In Spanish: Vladímir Kará-Murzá para niños
