Russian court to hear twice-poisoned activist’s case against criminal investigations authority

Vladimir Kara-Murza is a UK-Russian dual national serving a 25-year sentence for treason.

It is the longest sentence handed down to any Kremlin opponent since Soviet times, partly because of his tireless work to try to tighten the sanctions regime against Russia.

Now that Alexei Navalny is dead, he is one of Russia’s most prominent political prisoners, though by no means the only one – 1,100 at last count, according to the OVD human rights group.

Like Mr Navalny, Mr Kara-Murza was poisoned – twice – in 2015 and 2017.

He has brought a case – which included a hearing earlier today – against Russia’s investigative committee for failing to properly investigate the circumstances around those poisonings.

It’s not the first procedure, but in all the hearings so far the investigative committee has failed to provide documents and representatives – a classic case of official obfuscation.

But even from his Omsk jail cell, Mr Kara-Murza is not letting it go.

Don’t expect this to go well for him, but it does at least keep his case in the spotlight.

Especially at a time when his health is poor due to the prison conditions in which he is kept and the after-effects of the poisoning.