Mother of British man jailed in Russia speaks out on anniversary

Russian-British citizen Vladimir Kara-Murza has been in prison for two years (Picture: AP)

The mother of a British man who was jailed in Russia for his anti-war views has told of her pain on the second anniversary of his imprisonment.

Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian and British citizen, was jailed for 25 years after speaking against Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine – the longest sentence handed down to a critic since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

His mum, Elena Gordon, delivered an impassioned plea for her son in front of journalists and government representatives on the second anniversary of her son’s wrongful detainment.

Holding back tears, she said: ‘I’m neither a politician, nor a journalist or even an activist. I’m just a mother.

‘My pain is very personal, so my appeal is very personal: please help save my son.’

Ms Gordon said she lives in constant fear for her son’s life – he has already lost 30 kilos of weight due to lack of medical treatment and abuse in the colony.

The father-of-three’s health is deteriorating (Picture: Getty)

Recalling Alexey Navalny’s death in a Russian prison earlier this year, Ms Gordon said: ‘I was stunned and shocked, but not like everybody else.

‘You cannot imagine what it feels like as a mother to hear that and know that your son is next.’

Natalia Arno, of the Free Russia Foundation, has also been poisoned for speaking against the Kremlin.

She urged: ‘After the assassination of Alexei Navalny, there is an increased urgency to act to save Vladimir from the same fate. We understand that now he is political and personal enemy number one to Vladimir Putin.

‘But even in the darkest period of Russian history, he still says that he loves our country, believes in our people.’

His wife, Evgenia, has been fighting tirelessly to free him (Picture: AFP)

Evgenia Kara-Murza has been campaigning for her husband’s release since his unlawful detention.

She said: ‘Vladimir spent the last 15 years of his life trying to raise awareness about the nature of the Putin regime.

‘I’ve spent the last two years of mine trying to convince decision makers in the West that my husband’s lives and other lives are in danger.

‘You hear people say, “Oh, the Kremlin wouldn’t dare. He’s too high profile.”’

Kara-Murza has been in solitary confinement for 8 months (Picture: Reuters)

Ms Kara-Murza points out the other Russian critics who dared to speak against the Kremlin, who were murdered.

Brazen assassinations in central Moscow. Poisonings. Imprisonment. Torture.

Aleksei Navalny

Boris Nemstov

Sergei Yushenkov

Anna Politkovskaya

Aleksandr Litvinenko

Natalya Estemirova

Sergei Magnitsky

She added: ‘The Russian regime targets the most courageous, the most principled, those Russians who risk not only their freedom but very often their lives, to show to the world that a different Russia is possible.

‘Hundreds and hundreds of political prisoners of those people who stood up and publicly voiced their opposition to the regime and to its practises, who said no to the aggressive war against Ukraine and ended up behind bars.’

Kara-Murza had spoken against Putin and his regime prior to his imprisonment (Picture: AP)

Marina Litvinenko has also called for action to be taken (Picture: AP)

Marina Litvinenko, wife of poisoned Kremlin critic Aleksandr Litvinenko, said: ‘Forget about hope. We have to believe and do something.‘

Matthew Palmer, Deputy Chief of Mission at Embassy London, said: ‘I look at the courage that Vladmir has demonstrated in standing up against injustice, knowing the tremendous personal cost that it entails.

‘I’ve asked myself – what if standing up for my values and and my beliefs – what I hold true and dear – required that I make those kinds of sacrifices?

‘Do I have the moral courage to? What if the price to pay wasn’t just my liberty, what if it was the liberty of my family? The liberty of those that I loved?

‘Vladimir has that courage.’

Just hours before his arrest in 2022, Kara-Murza appeared on CNN and said: ‘This regime that is in power in our country today is not just corrupt, it’s not just kleptocratic, it’s not just authoritarian. It is a regime of murderers.’

Two years into a 25 year prison sentence by the ‘regime of murderers’, Kara-Murza is no closer to release. But those close to him are continuing to fight for justice.

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