Russia鈥檚 top court on Tuesday upheld dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza鈥檚 25-year prison sentence for treason and other charges, throwing out an appeal from his lawyers who called his jailing unlawful.
Kara-Murza, one of the most vocal opponents of President Vladimir Putin, was convicted last year in the toughest sentence against a dissident since the Kremlin clamped down on opposition in the wake of its Ukraine offensive.
The 42-year-old dual British-Russian national was transferred to a maximum-security Siberian prison in September 2023 and subsequently placed in solitary confinement.
鈥業t is difficult to survive in such conditions. He has not seen any other prisoners since last September,鈥� his lawyer Maria Eismont said.
Fears for the prominent dissident鈥檚 health have grown, especially after the death of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny in unexplained circumstances in February.
Kara-Murza suffers from serious health problems, which his wife Evgenia and lawyers say are due to two poisoning attempts orchestrated by Russia鈥檚 FSB security service in 2015 and 2017.
He was not present at Tuesday鈥檚 hearing. About two dozen journalists and foreign diplomats were at the court.
Prosecutors charged him with 鈥榯reason鈥� and spreading 鈥榝alse information鈥� about the Russian army after he criticised Russia鈥檚 actions in Ukraine in a speech in the United States.
He had also pressed Western countries to impose sanctions on Russia over the assault.
Since launching its offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has detained, jailed or exiled thousands of dissidents in a campaign that critics say carries echoes of mass repression during the Soviet Union.