Vladimir Kara-Murza is one of Russia’s foremost opposition figures. He was the deputy leader of Russia’s People’s Freedom Party and the founding chairman of the Nemtsov Foundation and occupied numerous posts including serving as vice president at Open Russia and the Free Russia Foundation and Senior Policy Advisor at the Institute of Modern Russia. He played a key role in the adoption of targeted Magnitsky sanctions on Russian human rights violators and is an enduring Russian voice of dissent and courage.

In 2015 and 2017 Kara-Murza survived two attempted assassination attempts that left him in a coma. Despite great personal risk, he remained a leading outspoken critic of Putin’s regime and more recently Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

After publicly condemning Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Kara-Murza was arbitrarily detained and sentenced to 25 years in prison for “high treason” in April.

In his nominating letter, former Canadian Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler wrote, “Vladimir Kara-Murza gives expression to the very best of what the concept of freedom represents, and whose heroism stands as an abiding example for all those who share a commitment to human rights, democracy, and the advancement of peace.”