{"id":5111,"date":"2023-04-10T18:00:27","date_gmt":"2023-04-10T18:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/russian-journalists-demand-politician\/"},"modified":"2023-04-10T18:02:03","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T18:02:03","slug":"in-defiant-speech-kremlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/in-defiant-speech-kremlin\/","title":{"rendered":"In defiant speech, Kremlin critic Kara-Murza likens his trial to Stalin’s USSR"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Andrew Osborn<\/p>\n

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Facing up to a quarter of a century in jail on treason charges he denies, Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza told a Moscow court on Monday his trial recalled one of Josef Stalin’s show trials in the 1930s and said he had done nothing wrong.<\/p>\n

Kara-Murza, 41, a father of three and former journalist who holds Russian and British passports, has spent years as a politician opposing President Vladimir Putin and has lobbied foreign governments and institutions to impose sanctions on Russia and individual Russians for purported human rights violations.<\/p>\n

Russian state prosecutors on Thursday requested a 25-year prison sentence for Kara-Murza, who they accuse of treason and of discrediting the Russian military after he criticised what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

His trial, which will culminate in a verdict on April 17, is being held behind closed doors, but a copy of his final speech to the court on Monday was made available by his wife and lawyer.<\/p>\n

In it, he struck a defiant tone, declined to ask the court to acquit him, and said he stood by and was proud of everything he had said.<\/p>\n

The current environment, he said, was not so much like the 1970s – a period when the state faced off against Soviet dissidents – as the 1930s, when Stalin conducted a series of show trials and purges of his opponents.<\/p>\n

“For me, as a historian, this is cause for reflection,” said Kara-Murza.<\/p>\n

“Criminals are supposed to repent of what they have done. I, on the other hand, am in prison for my political views. I also know that the day will come when the darkness over our country will dissipate.”<\/p>\n

Shortly after sending tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February last year, Russia introduced sweeping wartime censorship laws which have been used to silence dissenting voices across society.<\/p>\n

“Discrediting” the army can currently be punished by up to five years in prison, while spreading deliberately false information about it can attract a 15-year jail sentence.<\/p>\n

At a time of what they have cast as an existential struggle with the West, pro-government politicians say unity across society is vital and have described Russian citizens questioning Moscow’s actions in Ukraine as part of a pro-Western fifth column trying to undermine the military campaign.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Monday, dozens of Russian journalists and rights activists – many of whom have fled the country – called on the authorities to free Kara-Murza, saying the charges against him were baseless and politically-motivated. <\/p>\n

“Prosecute murderers and criminals rather than honest and responsible citizens who dare to think and speak the truth,” the letter said. “Stop Russia’s new slide toward Stalinism and a totalitarian system.”<\/p>\n

There was no immediate response to the letter from the authorities, who regard many of its signatories as traitors who crave the defeat of their own country on the battlefield. <\/p>\n

Kara-Murza and his supporters say he has twice survived being poisoned in the past. Russian authorities deny any involvement in the alleged attacks.<\/p>\n

(Reporting by Andrew OsbornEditing by Rosalba O’Brien)<\/p>\n

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By Andrew Osborn MOSCOW (Reuters) -Facing up to a quarter of a century in jail on treason charges he denies, Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza told a Moscow court on Monday his trial recalled one of Josef Stalin’s show trials in the 1930s and said he had done nothing wrong. Kara-Murza, 41, a father of three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":5112,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1222],"tags":[1223],"class_list":["post-5111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-world-news","tag-updated"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-content\/uploads\/Reuters_Direct_Media\/USOnlineReportWorldNews\/tagreuters.com2023binary_LYNXMPEJ390CI-VIEWIMAGE.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5111"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5366,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5111\/revisions\/5366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}