Vadim Prokhorov, a lawyer for opposition politician and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of “treason” and spreading “fake news,” left Russia a few days before his client was sentenced due to possible criminal prosecution. During the process, Prokhorov was threatened with a criminal case by the prosecutor and the judge, the lawyer himself said on the air of Voice of America.
“Both the prosecutor and the judge in the process, for various reasons, stated that [I] should not only be expelled from the Bar Association, but also consider the issue of initiating a criminal case. I also received a warning through one of the politicians about possible interest from at least one of the deputy prosecutors general, who is in charge of our case.”
Some of Prokhorov's colleagues are imprisoned, as in Russia, according to him, an attack has begun not only on journalists, but also on lawyers.
On April 17, the Moscow City Court sentenced Kara-Murza to 25 years in prison – 3 years under the article on the activities of an undesirable organization, 7 years under the article on "fake news about the army", and another 18 years – for "treason". The politician has been in a Moscow pre-trial detention center on charges of spreading fake news since April 2022. The case was brought because of Kara-Murza's performance in the Arizona House of Representatives on March 15, 2022. Later, he was charged with carrying out the activities of an “undesirable organization”, since on October 27, 2021, Kara-Murza held a conference in the Moscow Sakharov Center in support of Russian political prisoners with the money of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Free Russia Foundation.