I thought I was Going to Die, Russian Dissident on Imprisonment and Unexpected Release

[Social Media]

 

"I was absolutely certain I would die in Putin’s prison." This stark statement comes from Vladimir Kara-Murza, a prominent Russian opposition politician, in his first in-depth interview following his surprise release in the largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War. The man sitting before me is painfully thin—a consequence of the stress endured during his incarceration, he says. Still reeling from his sudden transfer from a high-security jail in Siberia to forced exile, Kara-Murza's experience over the past two years has been nothing short of harrowing.

 

Describing his release as surreal, like watching a film, he also adds that it's a "good film" because he has finally been reunited with his family. He had not seen them since his arrest in Moscow in April 2022. His youngest son, anxious not to let him out of sight, follows him everywhere. Kara-Murza, who holds British citizenship, was convicted of treason and sentenced to 25 years for his relentless criticism of Vladimir Putin and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

 

 

During his 11 months in solitary confinement, Kara-Murza was subjected to harsh conditions, including folding away his bed each morning at 5:00 AM and being allowed only an hour or so each day with paper and pen. "It’s so easy to lose your mind. You lose sense of time, space. Everything really," he reveals. "You do nothing, speak to no one, go nowhere. Day after day after day." Denied phone calls home, he only spoke to his children twice in over two years.

 

The physical toll of imprisonment was exacerbated by his fragile health. Nearly a decade ago, Kara-Murza almost died from an unknown toxin and continues to suffer from nerve damage. In September, a prison doctor warned him he had "a year, 18 months at best" to live if he remained behind bars. "After two FSB poisonings, I don’t exactly have the right state of health for a strict regime prison," he explains with a wry smile.

 

Last week, Kara-Murza was one of eight Russian dissidents who went missing from their prisons. As lawyers and relatives raised alarms, rumors of a looming swap began to swirl. The prisoners, however, were kept in the dark. When guards burst into Kara-Murza's cell in Omsk, he feared he was about to be executed. "I actually thought they were going to execute me," he recalls.

 

Kara-Murza had been instructed to sign a request for a presidential pardon but refused, unwilling to beg for mercy from Vladimir Putin, whom he calls "a dictator, usurper, and a murderer." Instead, he was transferred to Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo FSB jail. Five days later, he was led out to board a bus where he saw other dissidents, each accompanied by an FSB guard in a balaclava. Another guard announced over the bus microphone that they were being taken for a prisoner swap, without providing details. "No-one asked our consent," Kara-Murza says. "We were loaded onto a plane like cattle and flown out."

 

 

The dissidents landed in Germany, with Kara-Murza dressed in the only civilian clothes he owned: black long-johns, a T-shirt, and prison shower flip-flops. The Russian dissidents were part of a "bundle" of political prisoners released alongside high-profile U.S. nationals, such as journalist Evan Gershkovich. Among the released were former activists from Alexei Navalny's team, the opposition politician who died in prison earlier this year. Initially, Navalny was supposed to be part of the complex swap.

 

In return, Russia received a handful of spies and criminals, including the key prize sought by Vladimir Putin: an FSB hitman named Vadim Krasikov, who had committed a murder in broad daylight in a Berlin park. The judge sentencing Krasikov to life in prison called the killing an act of "state terrorism." Krasikov was welcomed back to Russia with a red carpet and a hug from Putin himself. "To everyone who criticizes this [swap], I would respectfully urge them not to think of prisoner exchanges but of saving lives," Kara-Murza argues, responding to the controversy over freeing Krasikov. "Aren’t 16 lives worth releasing one murderer?" For a long time, Germany was unsure. The delay, Kara-Murza believes, may have cost Alexei Navalny his life.

 

The joy of the Kara-Murzas’ reunion is marred by thoughts of those still imprisoned in Russia. "I’m so happy and overwhelmed to see these people free, but also very sad so many people were left behind," his wife Evgenia tells me. "I feel guilty." The Memorial human rights organization lists hundreds of political prisoners, and Evgenia had been campaigning hard for a priority group. "There are people with serious medical conditions, like Alexei Gorinov who’s missing part of his lung, who don’t have a lot of time," she adds.

 

Vladimir Kara-Murza speaks of those "still languishing in Putin’s Gulag" and holds out hope for further exchanges. However, his freedom came with immediate controversy. Shortly after landing in Germany, he argued that sanctions related to the Ukraine war should be better targeted, causing uproar among Ukrainians who felt his first priority upon release should not have been to soften Russia's punishment for waging war. Kara-Murza calls it calibration. "I need more information," he admits. "I realize that February 2022 changed a lot." Yet he questions why a Russian human rights lawyer can't travel to the Baltic states for a conference while a Russian missile containing a Western-made chip can hit a residential building in Ukraine.

 

"The responsibility for what the Putin regime is doing there is shared by Russian society, a large part of which chose to close their eyes to the abuses and repression," he argues. "But let’s not forget the responsibility of those Western countries who for years preferred to deal with Vladimir Putin and do business, knowing full well who he was and what he represented."

 

In 2022, Vladimir Kara-Murza was arrested because he insisted on staying in Russia and speaking out. Now, barred from traveling, he worries about his right to call others to action. He feels he may be "more constrained" but remains committed to condemning the war on Ukraine. "Putin can’t be allowed to win this war. Ukraine must win, and there should be more support from Western countries so that happens," he asserts. Historically, he notes, "windows of opportunity" for democratic change often open after "disastrous military defeat."

As his plane took off from Russia, the FSB guard beside him told him to look out of the window, suggesting it would be the last time he saw his motherland. The activist laughed and responded, "I’m a historian, so I am sure I will be back in my country." With conviction, he added, "And it will be much quicker than you think."

 

 

Credit: BBC  2024-08-07

 

 

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[Tug]

Hope the poor guy has protection you know putin will try to kill him.I hope putin meets his end soon and Russia rejoins the world……

[Hakuna Matata]

9 hours ago, Social Media said:

Vladimir Kara-Murza, a prominent Russian opposition politician

 

What a disgusting man!

 

Nobody likes him in Russia.

 

Actually, he is an CIA agent working for the United States. That's why he was imprisoned.

 

 

[john donson]

8 hours ago, Tug said:

Hope the poor guy has protection you know putin will try to kill him.I hope putin meets his end soon and Russia rejoins the world……

 

better the devil you know, as they say

[BobBKK]

He's a traitor and very lucky Russia has let him go - if they were half as bad as some of the posters would have you believe he would have been killed a long time ago.

[NativeBob]

3 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

He's a traitor and very lucky Russia has let him go - if they were half as bad as some of the posters would have you believe he would have been killed a long time ago.

$30K per speech in US. Monthly transfers of tens of thou $

Son of Bolshevik's apparatchik from some Baltic village

In fast - a political wh*re

Amazing A**hole