Sentenced on Monday to 25 years in prison on charges including treason, Vladimir Kara-Murza joined a growing list of Russians who have received long jail terms after speaking out against President Vladimir Putin or the invasion of Ukraine. Here are some of the most prominent cases.
VLADIMIR KARA-MURZA
Kara-Murza, 41, was convicted by a Moscow court over a series of interviews and speeches last year in which he condemned Russia's leadership and the war in Ukraine. The 25-year term he received was the harshest of its kind since Russia invaded its neighbour last February.
ALEXEI NAVALNY
Navalny, the most prominent opposition figure in Russia, is serving sentences totalling 11-1/2 years at the IK-6 penal colony at Melekhovo, about 235 km (145 miles) east of Moscow. He was convicted of fraud and contempt of court, charges that supporters and human rights groups say were trumped up to silence him. His spokeswoman said last week he was suffering severe stomach pain and weight loss, which his allies fear may be the result of slow poisoning.
ILYA YASHIN
Opposition politician Yashin was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison in December 2022 on charges of spreading "false information" about the army. He was tried over a YouTube video in which he discussed evidence uncovered by Western journalists of alleged Russian atrocities in Bucha, near Kyiv, and cast doubt on the official Moscow version that such reports had been fabricated as a "provocation" against Russia.
ALEXEI GORINOV
Gorinov, a Moscow district councillor, was jailed for seven years in July 2022 on charges of spreading false information about the armed forces. He had told a council meeting in March that children were "dying every day" in Ukraine. Gorinov was the first person to be jailed under harsh new censorship laws that were passed eight days after the start of the war.
ANDREI PIVOVAROV
Pivovarov, who had headed a now-defunct activist organisation called Open Russia, was jailed for four years in July 2022 on charges of leading an "undesirable organisation".
ALEXEI MOSKALYOV
Moskalyov was investigated by police after his daughter Masha, then 12, drew an anti-war picture at school in 2022. He was alleged to have discredited the armed forces in his own social media posts, and was sentenced in March to two years in jail. He fled house arrest the night before the verdict but was captured in Belarus and extradited back to Russia.
IVAN SAFRONOV
In a case that predated the invasion of Ukraine, Safronov was sentenced to 22 years in prison for treason in September 2022 after prosecutors said he had disclosed state secrets. A former defence reporter who became an adviser to the head of Russia's space agency, he was arrested in 2020. He said he had revealed only information that was already in the public domain. Supporters said his harsh punishment showed Russia's contempt for media freedom.
(Reporting by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
