Human Rights First Welcomes Release of Vladimir Kara-Murza, Other Political Prisoners

Human Rights First today joyfully welcomed the long-overdue release of Vladimir Kara-Murza, the human rights activist, opposition leader, and journalist who has been detained in Russia on trumped-up charges of treason since 2022.  He has been a senior advisor to Human Rights First since 2020.

Kara-Murza appears to have been released in a negotiated deal involving multiple governments that saw the release of several other political prisoners who had also arbitrarily been held in Russian government custody, ranging from Russian activists to American journalists.

“As Vladimir’s colleagues, we are incredibly relieved to see him free, and thrilled that his wife Evgenia’s two-year-long campaign for his freedom has succeeded,” said Sue Hendrickson, President and CEO of Human Rights First. “Before and since his imprisonment, Vladimir and Evgenia have been passionate advocates for a Russian government that respects human rights, and they have inspired so many to believe in and keep fighting for a free Russia. They and their children richly deserve to be reunited.”

Kara-Murza is renowned for his advocacy for Magnitsky-style targeted sanctions as a tool for providing accountability in cases of human rights abuse and corruption, in Russia and around the world.  After his arrest, and at the request of leading members of Congress and civil society groups including Human Rights First, the U.S. and other governments sanctioned several of his persecutors using these tools.  Kara-Murza has been a vocal critic of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for his commentary in The Washington Post written from prison.

“Like the others Russia is releasing today, Vladimir never should have had years of his life taken simply for exercising his rights,” said Adam Keith, Human Rights First’s Senior Director for Accountability. “We remember today those who did not survive their time in Putin’s prisons, including Alexey Navalny, and the political prisoners who continue to be held there. We thank the diplomats who secured today’s releases. And we condemn Putin’s insistence that the price of freedom for these brave journalists and activists was the release of a convicted assassin and the exile of some of Russia’s bravest citizens. That price was worth paying, but governments need to do much more to break this pattern of kidnapping and extortion.”

“Vladimir’s optimism is as contagious as his courage,” said Hendrickson. “As he wrote shortly after his arrest in April 2022, ‘There will be a dawn. The night, as you know, is darkest just before the light.’  Today’s news is no dawn, as Russian forces continue to brutalize Ukraine and crush dissent at home, but it will keep more flames burning in a dark time.”