A new criminal case has been opened against journalist and politician Vladimir Kara-Murza – on treason, RBC reports citing his lawyer Vadim Prokhorov.
Charges have not yet been filed, the decision to initiate a criminal case has not yet been handed over.
The RT propaganda channel also reported on the new criminal case, citing its own sources. According to the channel's sources, according to the investigation, Kara-Murza, while working in Open Russia, "provided assistance to organizations from NATO member countries directed against the security of Russia."
Kara-Murza has been in a Moscow pre-trial detention center since April on charges of spreading “fakes” about the Russian army (part 2 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code, punishable by a fine of up to 5 million rubles or imprisonment for up to 10 years).
At the time of his arrest, investigators were unable to explain exactly how he had discredited the army. The reason for the arrest was the possibility of his departure from the country and the fact that he had British citizenship.
According to the ruling, the case was initiated because of Kara-Murza's speech in the Arizona House of Representatives on March 15, 2022. The investigator drew conclusions based on the translation from English into Russian, but there is no information on the qualifications of the translator in the file.
On August 4, Kara-Murza was charged with carrying out the activities of an undesirable organization for an event in support of political prisoners (Part 1, Article 234.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). This was announced by his lawyer Vadim Prokhorov. According to the lawyer, Kara-Murza is accused of holding a conference in the Moscow Sakharov Center on October 27, 2021 in support of Russian political prisoners with the money of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Free Russia Foundation.