Russia: Putin critic Kara-Murza taken to hospital, says wife

Russian opposition politician and outspoken Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza has been moved to a prison hospital, his wife Evgenia said on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday.

"Vladimir Kara-Murza was transferred to a prison hospital. His lawyers weren't allowed access to him," she wrote, adding that she was unaware of his condition.

Kara-Murza, 42, is currently serving a 25-year jail sentence for treason in an Omsk prison after he repeatedly condemned Russia's war in Ukraine and urged Western sanctions against Moscow.

The jail sentence was the harshest sentence imposed on an opposition politician since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Kara-Murza has both Russian and British passports.

Concerns over opposition figure's health

Evgenia Kara-Murza, a journalist and democracy advocate at the Free Russia Foundation, a civil society organization, has repeatedly raised concerns about the safety of her husband, saying those voicing opposition to Putin were in "danger." 

She has said he is suffering from a nerve condition after two poisoning attempts were made against him. 

"That is not just my husband's life who is indeed a years-long opponent of the regime, but also the lives of strong and vocal opponents of Vladimir Putin," she said in March after Alexei Navaly's death in February.

Evgenia has said her husband is being held in a small cell that measures around 65 square feet, with a bed affixed to the wall during the day to prevent him from lying down and one backles tool. He is not allowed to receive phone calls or visits.

She said her husband was being held in a small cell that measures around 65 square feet, with a bed affixed to the wall during the day to prevent him from lying down and one backless stool. He is not allowed to receive phone calls or visits.

In February, Navalny, a prominent critic of Putin, died under unclear circumstances in a Siberian penal colony, where he was serving a sentence on corruption charges that were widely seen as politically motivated.

tj/ab (Reuters, AFP)