MOSCOW -- A Russian court has ordered pretrial detention for prominent Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza for allegedly spreading false information about the Russian Army, his lawyer said.
Moscow's Basmanny district court ordered the 40-year-old Kremlin opponent be held in pretrial detention until June 12, lawyer Vadim Prokhorov said on Facebook on April 22. The prison he will be sent to is not known, Prokhorov said.
Russia's Investigative Committee is conducting a probe into accusations that Kara-Murza distributed false information about the Russian Army.
The court said Kara-Murza would stay in detention at the request of the investigator handling the case, Interfax reported. The defendant told the court that he considers the case politically motivated, the news agency said.
The decision to hold him in pretrial detention will be appealed, Prokhorov said, according to Interfax.
Prokhorov wrote earlier on Facebook on April 22 that his client was questioned at the Investigative Committee with regard to the case, but he did not give any further details.
Separately, the Russian Justice Ministry added Kara-Murza to a list of "foreign agents." The designation means he is subject to stringent financial reporting requirements and must label anything he publishes with a disclaimer. The ministry listed him as a Ukrainian agent.
Kara-Murza was arrested outside his home on April 11 and sentenced the next day to 15 days in jail on a charge of disobeying the police.
President Vladimir Putin signed a law on March 5, just days after Russia launched its ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, that calls for lengthy prison terms for distributing "deliberately false information" about Russian military operations.
The law envisages sentences of up to 10 years in prison for individuals convicted of an offense, while the penalty for the distribution of "deliberately false information" about the Russian Army that leads to "serious consequences" is 15 years in prison.
It also makes it illegal "to make calls against the use of Russian troops to protect the interests of Russia" or "for discrediting such use" with a possible penalty of up to three years in prison. The same provision applies to calls for sanctions against Russia.
A close associate of slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, Kara-Murza is best known for falling deathly ill on two separate occasions in Moscow -- in 2015 and 2017-- with symptoms consistent with poisoning.
SEE ALSO: New FBI Documents Shed Light On Probe Into Russian Activist's Near-Fatal IllnessesTissue samples smuggled out of Russia by his relatives were turned over to the FBI, which investigated his case as one of "intentional poisoning."
U.S. government laboratories also conducted extensive tests on the samples, but documents released by the Justice Department suggest they were unable to reach a conclusive finding.
The arrest of the outspoken Kremlin critic comes amid a mounting crackdown by Russian authorities on opposition figures and any dissent to the ongoing war in Ukraine, which started on February 24.
The investigative group Bellingcat found that Kara-Murza had been followed by Russian security agents who were also allegedly involved in the poisoning of another opposition figure, Aleksei Navalny.