Congressman Cohen Expresses Concern about the Fate of Vladimir Kara-Murza
In letter to President Biden, seeks his designation as “wrongfully detained”
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly’s Special Representative on Political Prisoners, today wrote President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken seeking to have journalist and opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Mura designated as “wrongfully detained” by Russia under the Levinson Act. The letter was sent on the day the world learned of the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a Russian prison.
The letter to President Biden reads in part:
“I am deeply saddened by the news of the murder of Alexei Navalny. This is Putin’s M.O., it’s what he does and has always done - murder opponents and journalists. He’s a third rate former neo-Stalinist apparatchik.
“As I grieve today, I reflect on Navalny’s life and legacy. My thoughts immediately go to Vladimir Kara-Murza, his wife Evgenia and their three children. Navalny is a grim reminder of what Putin and his regime do to brave people who oppose them.
“Vladimir is a Washington Post columnist who is a permanent U.S. resident with a wife and children who are U.S. citizens living in Virginia. This gives him ‘significant ties to the United States,’ and his arrest was highly irregular with the clear intent to silence him for telling the truth about Putin’s illegal war. I am once again requesting that we do all we can to help Vladimir and that you designate him as wrongfully detained under the Levinson Act.”
See the entire letter here.
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