In April 2023, Kara-Murza received a 25-year prison sentence. He is being held in a prison colony in Omsk in central Russia. Here are the seven columns for which he was honored:
Many Russians refuse to be silent accomplices to Putin’s war
August 15, 2023
“Some people in the West are asking why more Russians aren’t protesting against Putin and his brutal war. Perhaps, a more apt observation would be that — given the circumstances and the cost — so many Russians are. According to human rights groups, since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, nearly 20,000 people have faced police detention across Russia for antiwar protests. Not a week goes by without another arrest, indictment or sentencing of antiwar protesters. Artists and journalists, politicians and priests, lawyers and police officers, students and railroad workers: Russians of different backgrounds and vocations have refused to become silent accomplices to Putin’s war, even at the cost of personal freedom.” [Read the full column.]
What happened when I saw Alexei Navalny
August 30, 2023
"The room on the video screen looked like a school gym. At the head of the court, under a double-headed eagle clumsily fastened to the wall, sat Moscow City Court Judge Andrei Suvorov, with his chair behind a small (also school-type) desk. His judicial gown looked strikingly out of place, given the circumstances. The room was filled with men in black masks and khaki uniforms. At a table by the wall on the left side of the screen sat the defendant surrounded by his lawyers — and it was only when he stood up to approach the camera and speak that I realized it was Alexei Navalny." [Read the full column.]
Putin thinks he can bend history to his will
Oct. 12, 2023
“As could be expected from a regime led by a KGB officer who spares no effort to whitewash and glorify the Soviet past, the new textbooks have very little to do with actual history. Instead, they resemble compilations of propaganda slogans that have for years been advanced by Kremlin officials and state media outlets.” [Read the full column.]
Russians are living in a frightening, distorted reality
Jan. 17, 2023
“Propaganda is not limited to news bulletins and talk shows — it also permeates documentaries, cultural programs and even sports coverage. New Year’s Eve, when millions of Russians tune in to listen to popular songs and watch favorite movies, was also filled with propaganda messages.” [Read the full column.]
Putin’s war on Ukraine makes a mockery of law
June 7, 2023
“Today in our country, it is not those who are waging this criminal war but those who oppose it who face judgment: Journalists who tell the truth. Artists who put up antiwar stickers. Priests who invoke the commandment “Thou shalt not kill.” Teachers who call a spade a spade. Parents whose children draw antiwar pictures. Lawmakers who allow themselves to doubt the appropriateness of children’s competitions when children are being killed in a neighboring country.” [Read the full column.]
A reckoning will come
Kara-Murza delivered these remarks on April 10, 2023, at the closing session of his trial in Moscow.
“Members of the court: I was sure, after two decades spent in Russian politics, after all that I have seen and experienced, that nothing can surprise me anymore. I must admit that I was wrong. I’ve been surprised by the extent to which my trial, in its secrecy and its contempt for legal norms, has surpassed even the “trials” of Soviet dissidents in the 1960s and ’70s. And that’s not even to mention the harshness of the sentence requested by the prosecution or the talk of “enemies of the state.” In this respect, we’ve gone beyond the 1970s — all the way back to the 1930s. For me, as a historian, this is an occasion for reflection.” [Read the full column.]
Change will come to Russia — abruptly and unexpectedly
Sept. 11, 2023
“Political change in Russia always comes unexpectedly… The next time, change will come in exactly the same way — abruptly and unexpectedly. None of us knows the specific moment and specific circumstances, but it will happen in the foreseeable future. The chain of events leading to these changes was started by the regime itself [with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine] in February 2022. It’s only a matter of time.” [Read the full column.]
