Vladimir Kara-Murza
Vladimir Kara-Murza, born 1981, Moscow. Charges: Article 205.4 (part unknown), Russian Criminal Code (Organisation of a terrorist community and participation in it); Article 278, Russian Criminal Code (Violent seizure of power or alteration of the constitutional order); “The case of Anti-War Committee of Russia”, opened on January 1, 2025. Previously convicted under Article 207.3 part 2 items g, d, Russian Criminal Code; Article 275, Russian Criminal Code; Article 284.1 part 1, Russian Criminal Code. Status: not in Russia. Recognition: Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners — recognised as a political prisoner, May 20, 2022; Amnesty International — recognised as a prisoner of conscience, May 9, 2022.
In brief
Moscow · Moscow · Politicians · Anti-war cases, Terrorism cases, Cases against "foreign agents"
Sentence
25 years
imprisonment in a strict regime colony
Upheld May 14, 2024
Charges
- Article 205.4 (part unknown), Russian Criminal Code — Organisation of a terrorist community and participation in it
- Article 278, Russian Criminal Code — Violent seizure of power or alteration of the constitutional order
- Article 207.3 part 2 items g, d, Russian Criminal Code
- Article 275, Russian Criminal Code
- Article 284.1 part 1, Russian Criminal Code
Full wording of the charges
According to the investigation, "in a public speech before members of the Arizona House of Representatives of the United States of America, acting on the grounds of political hatred, disseminated, under the guise of reliable reports, deliberately false information containing data on the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to bomb residential areas, social infrastructure, including maternity hospitals, hospitals and schools, as well as the use of other prohibited means and methods of warfare in the course of a special military operation on the territory of Ukraine. In addition, in October 2021, he held a conference in support of Russian political prisoners at the Sakharov Centre in Moscow, allegedly with money from the Free Russia Foundation. In addition, in Lisbon on 8 October 2021, he spoke about the illegitimacy of election campaigns in Russia, including the upcoming 2024 presidential election; in Oslo on 29 October 2021, at the Norwegian Helsinki Committee award ceremony for historian Yuri Dmitriev, he spoke about state terror in Russia and politically motivated murders; on 29 March 2022, at a U.S. Helsinki Commission hearing, he spoke about the "information iron curtain" in Russia and the need for citizens to have access to the truth about the war in Ukraine.
Latest event
October 13, 2025 — added to the rosfinmonitoring list of “terrorists and extremists”
Recognition by rights defenders
- Recognised as a political prisoner — Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners, May 20, 2022
- Recognised as a prisoner of conscience — Amnesty International, May 9, 2022
Timeline
· Added to the Rosfinmonitoring list of “terrorists and extremists”
· Criminal case opened
The case of Anti-War Committee of Russia
· Persecution ends
· Imprisonment ends
· Cassation ruling
upheld
· First-instance verdict
guilty verdict · 25 years
· Recognised as a political prisoner
Memorial: Support for Political Prisoners
· Recognised as a prisoner of conscience
Amnesty International
· Added to the register of “foreign agents”
· Persecution begins
Vladimir Kara-Murza's case of "fakes" about the activities of the Russian Armed Forces on the territory of Ukraine, of involvement in the activities of an undesirable organisation and of high treason
Criminal case
Vladimir Kara-Murza's case of "fakes" about the activities of the Russian Armed Forces on the territory of Ukraine, of involvement in the activities of an undesirable organisation and of high treason
- Case number
- 2-41/2023
Thematic group: Anti-war case
The case of Anti-War Committee of Russia
Other defendants in the case
- Sergei Aleksashenko — Not in Russia
- Marat Gelman — Not in Russia
- Leonid Gozman — Not in Russia
- Dmitry Gudkov — Not in Russia
- Sergei Guriev — Not in Russia
- Boris Zimin — Not in Russia
- Garry Kasparov — Not in Russia
- Mikhail Kasianov — Not in Russia
- Evgenii Kiselev — Not in Russia
- Mikhail Kokorich — Not in Russia
- Evgenii Kunin — Not in Russia
- Elena Lukyanova — Not in Russia
- Kirill Martynov — Not in Russia
- Yuri Pivovarov — Not in Russia
- Maxim Reznik — Not in Russia
- Artur Smolianinov — Not in Russia
- Mikhail Khodorkovsky — Not in Russia
- Evgenii Chichvarkin — Not in Russia
- Konstantin Chumakov — Not in Russia
- Anastasia Shevchenko — Not in Russia
- Viktor Shenderovich — Not in Russia
- Ekaterina Shulman — Not in Russia
Thematic group: Anti-war case
Details and sources
Full summary
Opposition politician, has been poisoned twice.
On 11 April, 2022, Kara-Murza was detained near his home and a report for disobedience to a lawful request of police officers was drawn up on him, which consisted of his changing his movement trajectory and accelerating his step at the sight of police officers. The next day the court arrested him for 15 days. On April 22 it became known that a criminal case was opened against Kara-Murza for spreading deliberately false information about the activities of the Russian Armed Forces, the same day the court decided to take him into custody.
In 2015 and 2017, Kara-Murza claimed poisoning, both times the diagnosis was confirmed by doctors. After one of the poisonings, the politician fell into a coma. Later, a group of investigative journalists established that Kara-Murza had been surveilled by FSB officers.
On 13 July 2022, a criminal case was opened against Kara-Murza for carrying out activities of an "undesirable organisation".
On October 6, it was reported that a criminal case of high treason was initiated against Kara-Murza, the same day he was charged. All three cases were later merged. After being placed in the disciplinary cell, he began to lose sensitivity in his limbs. On 16 March, 2023, the staff of the medical unit of the pre-trial detention centre did not allow Kara-Murza to participate in the trial until the end of the course of treatment. On 17 April, he was sentenced to 25 years in a strict regime prison colony.
In June, it became known that Kara-Murza stopped receiving some of his letters. On June 25, the secretary of the Public Supervisory Commission of Moscow Alexei Melnikov reported that Kara-Murza's letters were handed over.
Immediately after his transfer to the colony in September, the politician was placed in a punishment cell. The staff told him that he would not be released to the camp, as he "infects all prisoners with his views". In total, Kara-Murza was sent to the punishment cell at least five times.
On 1 August 2024, he was released as part of a prisoner exchange between the Russian Federation and the United States.
In August 2025, State Duma deputy Vasily Piskarev announced that a case had been opened against the organisers of the opposition march in Berlin on 1 March 2025 (i.e. including Kara-Murza) for participation in the activities of an extremist and terrorist organisation, organising the activities of an extremist community and calling for extremism. On 13 October 2025, Kara-Murza was included in the list of extremists and terrorists of Rosfinmonitoring without the marking that is put on the names of those prosecuted under terrorist articles, which may mean that participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation is not imputed to him. On October 15, the politician was arrested in absentia in the case of spreading deliberately false information about the Russian Armed Forces and participation in the activities of an extremist organisation.
On 14 October 2025 the FSB reported about the initiation of a case against Kara-Murza and other members of the "Anti-War Committee of Russia" for violent seizure of power and organisation of activities of a terrorist community. The reason was the adoption of the "Berlin Declaration" on the need for a change of power in Russia.
All fields of the record
- Citizenship
- Russia
- Place of detention
- Pre-trial detention centre No. 2, Moscow
- Persecution episodes
- 2
Other people prosecuted under Article 205.4 (part unknown), Russian Criminal Code
Under the same article, not necessarily in the same case.