The prominent imprisoned Kremlin opponent Vladimir Kara-Mursa has long been considered seriously ill after poison attacks. He has now been transferred to a prison hospital. There is great concern for him.
According to his lawyers and wife, Kremlin opponent Vladimir Kara-Mursa, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison, has been transferred from the penal camp in Omsk, Siberia, to a prison hospital. The condition of the 42-year-old, who is one of the fiercest opponents of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, is unclear. The Russian prison clinic initially refused to admit, but then admitted that the politician, who has been in poor health for a long time, had been transferred there, his wife Yevgenia Kara-Mursa said on the social network X.
The lawyers were initially put off and ultimately were not given access to him. In February, the best-known Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny died in a penal camp in the Russian Arctic region. Other political prisoners in Russia also complain about particularly harsh prison conditions that are causing health problems.
Kara-Mursa’s wife recalled that her husband was suffering from a chronic illness after two poisoning attacks. She said that the lawyers had been trying in vain to see the opposition politician since Thursday. The doctors had first made them wait and finally said that the working day was over on Friday. The prison system does not allow visits at the weekend, they said.
According to his lawyer, Kara-Mursa was transferred to a cell with difficult conditions for six months in June. Such particularly cramped cells are a common form of harassment used by guards in the penal camp for political prisoners. Kara-Mursa was sentenced to 25 years in a camp in April 2023 on charges of high treason. He is internationally considered a political prisoner. For years he has criticized Putin’s policies and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.