The UK sanctioned Russian judges and prosecutors on Monday for being involved in the “politically motivated conviction” of Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, demanding his release.
Kara-Murza, who holds Russian and British citizenship, lost an appeal against his 25-year prison term on Monday, as reported by the Russian state news agency RIA. In April, he was sentenced to jail for treason and other offences.
Vladimir Kara-Murza is British-Russian national who is being persecuted for his criticism of Putin and the war in Ukraine.
— Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) July 31, 2023
Today we are sanctioning those involved in his trial and sentencing following his appeal rejection.
🔗 https://t.co/b9CSfkuutB pic.twitter.com/D9tiV2wYWB
UK Sanctions on Russian Judges
The UK government announced that six people, including two Moscow municipal court judges, Vitaly Belitsky and Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dorokhina, were sanctioned for their involvement in Kara-Murza’s conviction. They will be subjected to travel restrictions and asset freezes.
The British government, which has already sanctioned individuals involved in his case, claimed it had also sanctioned Basmanny District Court Judge Natalia Nikolaevna Dudar, who, it claims, extended Kara-Murza’s pre-trial detention even more.
Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in a statement, “Kara-Murza, a dual British national, is being persecuted by the Russian regime for his anti-war stance.”
Others sanctioned include two prosecutors, Boris Georgievich Loktionov, Anna Evgenievna Potychko, and also Danila Yurievich Mikheev, who was identified as an expert witness for the Russian government, who Britain said provided false justifications for Kara-Murza’s arrest.
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly claimed that the rejection of Kara-Murza’s appeal following his imprisonment on false charges demonstrates the Russian regime’s depravity and its complete disdain for human rights and freedom of expression.
Cleverly said, “Today we’ve sanctioned six people connected with his case, sending a clear message that the UK will not stand for this treatment of one of its citizens.”
British PM Rishi Sunak stated that the decision by the Moscow court was “desperate and unfounded.”
The sentence of Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza has been left unchanged. The so-called court rejected the appeal.
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) July 31, 2023
Earlier, the politician was sentenced to 25 years in prison in the case of "state treason and fakes about the Russian Armed Forces". pic.twitter.com/gVn1S7FeOa
Kara-Murza’s Arrest and Trial
Kara-Murza was arrested in April 2022 after denouncing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but was later charged with treason.
He appeared in court in April this year for his final verdict, where he received a sentence of 25 years in jail to be served in a “strict regime correctional colony,” along with a $4,900 fine.
In a CNN interview broadcast hours before his arrest, Kara-Murza said Russia is ruled by a “regime of murderers.”
Additionally, he also criticised the Russian government’s crackdown on the opposition and urged Western countries to condemn Russia for alleged human rights violations.
Kara-Murza related his trial to Joseph Stalin’s show trials in the 1930s in his final statement to the court in April, refusing to request the court to acquit him, declaring he stood by and was proud of everything he had said.
Russia’s Suppression of Critics
Another Russian political opponent, Alexei Navalny, is well-known for being a sharp critic of Putin’s actions in the Kremlin and for exposing corruption in Russian politics.
After nearly five months of recovery from being poisoned by a Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok, Navalny returned from Germany to Russia in January 2021, where he was promptly arrested and sentenced to two years in prison.
Similarly, recently, prominent Russian cybersecurity executive Ilya Sachkov was sentenced to 14 years in jail for treason by a Russian court after it was claimed he revealed confidential information to foreign spies.
Prior to his arrest in 2021, Sachkov publicly condemned the Kremlin for failing to respond to Russian ransomware attacks. Sachkov also spoke out against Russian hacker Maksim Yakubets, the accused leader of the Evil Corp cyber group, which US investigators believe has stolen hundreds of millions of dollars over the last ten years, in a speech published by the Financial Times in 2021.
Sachkov is the most recent in the list of individuals accused of treason in Russia, including scientists, military officials, and a former journalist.