MOSCOW - Russia on Monday sentenced Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza to 25 years in a “strict regime” penal colony on treason and other charges for criticising the Ukraine offensive. International leaders and supporters immediately condemned the verdict, the longest against an opposition figure in recent years, and called for his release.
A Moscow court found the 41-year-old guilty of treason, of spreading “false” information about the Russian army and of links to an “undesirable organisation” after a closed-door trial. Kara-Murza appeared in a cage for defendants, wearing blue jeans, a black T-shirt and grey blazer, an AFP journlaist said. He smiled and gestured to his supporters to write to him in prison.