BRAVE British political prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza has been finally freed from a Russian jail today as part of a historic swap deal.
The 42-year-old was serving a horrific 25-year prison sentence for “treason” in a hellhole Vladimir Putin penal colony in Siberia.
APBritish political prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza has been finally freed from a Russian jail today as part of a historic swap deal[/caption]
East2WestKara-Murza was sentenced to prison after strong criticism of Putin’s chilling regime in April 2023[/caption]
Refer to CaptionHis family say he was almost murdered twice while in prison[/caption]
The Kremlin critic – who has both Russian and British citizenship – was sentenced to prison after strong criticism of Putin’s chilling regime.
Kara-Murza also slammed the Russian president for his horror invasion of Ukraine.
He was arrested in April 2022 before being sentenced a year later in a “show trial”.
He has spent the last year in a maximum-security prison where his loved ones claim he has been treated horrifically.
The Brit’s health has been reportedly dwindling during his prison stint after he says was poisoned twice by Putin’s brutal secret service.
Human rights campaigner Sir Bill Browder warned earlier this year: “If he is not released soon, it is likely he will die in a Russian prison.
Kara-Murza, who grew up and studied in Britain, suffers from a nerve disorder after the two poisonings in 2015 and 2017 that he blames on the Kremlin.
Fears of a planned Russian assassination were ramped up when Kara-Murza’s ally Alexei Navalny was found dead inside his jail.
Navalny, 47, was seen as Putin’s biggest critic alongside Kara-Murza.
When Navalny was found dead in suspicious circumstances Kara-Murza released a heartfelt message for the people of Russia.
He said: “Vladimir Putin personally bears responsibility for the death of Alexei Navalny because Alexei was his personal prisoner.”
“He must be stopped and only Russian society itself can do this.”
He went on to warn that Putin was a “vengeful, cowardly, greedy old man” who “still holds on with a death grip, destroying anyone in whom he sees a threat to his power.”
Fears over his health were highlighted again recently after the Brit vanished from jail and was sent to an “unknown location”.
Russia’s prison service FSIN said Kara-Murza was being transferred from the IK-6 penal colony in Omsk to another location – but it did not say where.
His lawyer Vadim Prokhorov wrote on Facebook: “Today a lawyer for Vladimir Kara-Murza for a second day running was not allowed to visit him in a prison hospital.
“The exact location of the political prisoner is unknown.”
The lawyer was stopped from visiting on Tuesday and Wednesday because Kara-Murza was having a “medical examination”, Prokhorov said.
More than 160 Russian citizens have been imprisoned for opposing the war, according to human rights group OVD-Info – however Kara-Murza’s sentence is the harshest so far.
A total of 19,854 Russians were arrested between February 24, 2022 and January 28, 2024 for speaking out or demonstrating against the invasion.
It comes as innocent American journalist Evan Gershkovich was also finally freed today as part of the huge prisoner exchange deal.
Evan, 32, faced an outrageous 16 years in jail after a sham trial where he was wrongly accused by Vladimir Putin‘s crooked regime of collecting “secret information” for the CIA.
A Russian government plane was seen at Ankara Airport in Turkey today where the journalist was one of dozens of political prisoners to be released.
The swap involved 23 other prisoners in Russian jails – including former US marine Paul Whelan and British-Russian journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza.
Today’s exchange is one of the largest and most complicated swaps between the West and Russia in history.
The US, Russia and Germany were all involved in the large scale operation.
The Wall Street Journal said after Evan’s release on Thursday afternoon: “Gershkovich and other Americans left Russian aircraft moments ago at an airport in Turkey’s capital, Ankara.
“Russia had kept the 32-year-old behind bars for more than a year on a false allegation of espionage.
“It sentenced him in a hurried and secret three-day trial to 16 years in a high-security penal colony.”
APInnocent American journalist Evan Gershkovich was also finally freed today[/caption]
The Brit pictured with wife Evgenia during happier times in Moscow
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