HAn Istorian by training, Vladimir Kara-Mourza is an independent journalist and political activist, who has become a symbol of the fight against corruption and repression in Russia.
His commitment to civil liberties dates back more than two decades. Close to Boris Nemtsov, the main opponent of Vladimir Putin’s regime assassinated in Moscow on February 27, 2015, he himself was the subject of two poisoning attempts in 2015 and 2017, from which he still has after-effects.
Vladimir Kara-Mourza was arrested on April 11, 2022 in Moscow and sentenced on April 17 to twenty-five years of detention in a penal colony for ” high treason “, in particular for his positions against the invasion of Ukraine and the war of aggression waged there by the Russian Federation. Detained as a political prisoner, he now risks spending the rest of his life in captivity.
Despite the serious threats weighing on him for several years, Vladimir Kara-Mourza chose to stay in Russia to wage his battles against the regime while continuing to testify very regularly to international human rights bodies.
A serious condition
Internationally hailed for his political courage, Vladimir Kara-Mourza was awarded the 2022 Council of Europe Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prizewhich allowed him to create the October 30 Foundationwhich aims to provide financial assistance to the families of Russian political prisoners and to establish an international day in favor of political prisoners around the world, without distinction of ethnic or religious affiliation.
Vladimir Kara-Mourza is already very weakened by more than a year of detention. He suffers from a serious illness which, under current Russian law, should exclude his confinement in a penitentiary center, and he is today in detention the subject of arbitrary harassment by the Russian authorities which puts his life in danger.
For all these reasons, we strongly support the candidacy of Vladimir Kara-Mourza for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, submitted on January 24 by Norwegian MP Ingjerd Schou.
First signatories : Gérard Bensussan, philosopher, professor emeritus, University of Strasbourg; André Gattolin, senator (RDPI) Hauts-de-Seine; Luba Jurgenson, professor of Russian literature, Sorbonne-Université; Jonathan Littell, writer and filmmaker; Claude Malhuret, senator (Les Indépendants), Allier; Lev Ponomarev, Sakharov Institute, Nobel Peace Prize 2022; Pierre Raiman, historian, secretary of the association For Ukraine, for their freedom and ours! ; Sylvie Rollet, professor emeritus in cinema studies, University of Poitiers, president of the association For Ukraine, for their freedom and ours! ; Nicolas Tenzerpolitical philosopher, Center for Study and Reflection for Political Action (Cerap); Emmanuel Wallon, university professor, Paris-Nanterre University.
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