A coalition of 25 international human rights organizations has called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to condemn the arrest by Russian authorities of outspoken Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza.
In a joint statement, on May 2, the rights groups also urged UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, along with "all other relevant UN human rights mandate-holders and special procedures," to condemn the imprisonment of Kara-Murza and to demand his immediate release, along with all other prisoners of conscience detained for speaking out since the start of the war Russia has launched against Ukraine.
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 police.
A court in Moscow on April 22 then ruled Kara-Murza must be held further on a new charge of spreading false information about the Russian army after he criticized the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in an interview to a media outlet.
"These charges are spurious and aim only to silence dissent inside Russia. They reflect the [Russian President Vladimir] Putin regime’s fear of the truth," said the coalition, which includes United Nations Watch and the Human Rights Foundation.
Putin signed a law on March 5, just days after Russia launched its war against Ukraine, that calls for lengthy prison terms for distributing 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 military 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 penalty possible 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.
Tissue 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 came amid a mounting crackdown by Russian authorities on opposition figures and any dissent to the ongoing war in Ukraine that 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 2020 poisoning of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny.