Russia sentenced a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin to 25 years in prison in the harshest sentence yet handed down to an opposition activist.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, 41, a persistent campaigner against Putin’s rule who has condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine, was found guilty by a Moscow court of treason and other charges for criticizing the invasion, Russian news services reported. Kara-Murza had also actively lobbied for sanctioning Russian officials.
His sentence, to be served in a strict-regime penal colony, is by far the longest yet handed down in the Kremlin’s crackdown on opponents, which has sharply accelerated since the invasion in February 2022. His lawyer vowed to appeal, according to the state-run Tass news service.
