After almost a week of being denied access, a lawyer for imprisoned opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza was finally allowed to see his client in a prison hospital in Siberia amid concerns over the Kremlin critic's safety and health.
Lawyer Vadim Prokhorov said on Facebook on July 10 that his colleague, Sergei Safronov, was allowed to see Kara-Murza in person. The access came after six days of being denied visits to the politician by the officials of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) in the Siberian city of Omsk.
"Vladimir Kara-Murza's health state is relatively stable at the moment. But he suffers from a chronic disease that does not allow him to serve his term in the conditions present at the correctional colony," Prokhorov wrote, adding that Kara-Murza's lawyers intend to find out why exactly their client was placed in a prison hospital and work out measures to prevent violations of a political prisoners' right to have access to their legal team.
"Over six days, in violation of current Russian legislation and international legal norms, the lawyers were not allowed to see Vladimir," Prokhorov emphasized, giving no reason for the denial of visitation rights.
Kara-Murza was arrested in April 2022 after vocally criticizing Russia's war against Ukraine. A year later, he was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison on treason and other charges.
His trial in early 2023 experienced delays due to the significant deterioration of his health. Kara-Murza fell ill twice while traveling in Russia in two different situations, first in 2015 and then again in 2017. In both cases, he was hospitalized in critical condition but eventually recovered.
Kaza-Murza has blamed the Russian security services for the two incidents, and the U.S. FBI investigated the case as "intentional poisoning."
The charges stemmed in part from comments in which Kara-Murza accused the "dictatorial regime in the Kremlin" of committing war crimes in Ukraine. The sentence is the longest prison term imposed on a Kremlin opponent in post-Soviet Russia.
Kara-Murza and his supporters have rejected the charges as politically motivated.
On June 19, Kara-Murza was transferred to a punitive cell unit, or EPKT.
Placement in the EPKT, which stands for the unified cell-type premises, is considered the harshest type of incarceration in Russian prisons.
Unlike in regular sections of prisons where inmates can move around, work, visit a library, use prayer rooms, and access other leisure activities, those incarcerated in EPKT serve time in cells and are isolated from the rest of the correctional facility.
Kara-Murza's wife, Yevgenia, said on July 9 that her husband had been held incommunicado since July 2.
On July 4, Kara-Murza's lawyers were informed that their client had been transferred to a prison hospital for "a checkup."
Kara-Murza holds Russian and British passports.
