URGENCY RESOLUTION ON SECURING FREEDOM FOR VLADIMIR KARA-MURZA

Submitted by the Canadian Group of Liberal International

Liberal International condemns the arbitrary arrest and unjust detention of leading Russian dissident and democratic opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza. On April 11, 2022, Kara-Murza was detained as he was about to enter his home in Moscow following an international media interview, arrested on the false charge of disobeying the police. He has since been further charged with “spreading deliberately false information”, a crime carrying a sentence of up to 15 years imprisonment under a recent amendment to Russia’s Criminal Code intended to silence opposition to the illegal invasion of Ukraine. On June 8, his pretrial detention was arbitrarily extended. Kara-Murza joins thousands of prisoners of conscience targeted for opposing Putin’s internal repression and external aggression, who have been persecuted and prosecuted in breach of Russia’s domestic and international legal obligations. There were attempts against his life by poisoning.  

We urge all parliaments and governments to call for his immediate release, and to exercise all means of support and solidarity for his just case and cause, such as sending diplomatic representation to monitor his trial and formally protesting the case to Russian authorities. We further call on the international community to implement targeted Magnitsky Sanctions on the Kremlin’s architects of repression, and particularly those involved in Vladimir Kara-Murza’s case