Congressmen Cohen and Wilson Seek State Department Assistance in Freeing Journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza

WASHINGTON – Congressmen Steve Cohen (TN-9) and Joe Wilson (SC-02), the Ranking Member and Chairman of the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, today wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken seeking the State Department’s assistance in freeing Washington Post journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, currently unlawfully detained in Russia by the Putin regime.

The letter reads in part:

“We are writing to follow up on the request that the US resident Vladimir Kara-Murza, who has been taken hostage by the Putin regime for his anti-war speech and is currently facing a 25-year prison sentence in Russia, receives the status of wrongfully detained under the Levinson Act (22 U.S.C. 1741 et seq.) and the US government uses all of its resources, including those under the July 19, 2022 Executive Order, to free him.

“As you know, Vladimir Kara-Murza is a 41-year-old anti-Putin politician, journalist, and film[1]maker who was arrested on his trip to Russia for giving a speech to the Arizona legislature in March 2022 about the Russian military invasion of Ukraine. He was subsequently charged with treason for three public speeches to the US Helsinki Commission, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee denouncing political repression in Russia.

“Vladimir is well known in the US Congress for his work promoting the US Magnitsky Act which freezes assets and bans visas of gross human rights violators and has developed a following among the American people from his work as a regular columnist for the Washington Post. Vladimir testified in front of Congress on many occasions about the importance of sanctioning members of the Putin regime for their role in human rights abuse and kleptocracy. He gave similar testimonies to parliaments and legislative bodies in many countries around the world. As a result of his work, 35 countries now have a version of the Magnitsky Act.

“Vladimir Kara-Murza has been kept in Russian custody since April 2022 and his health recently severely deteriorated. He lost 40 pounds, and was officially diagnosed with polyneuropathy, which is a consequence of two state-sponsored poisonings he had been subjected to on his previous trips to Russia in 2015 and 2017. Vladimir has lost sensation in both of his feet and now also in one of his arms. Under the Russian law, he should be released from prison based on this diagnosis, but the Russian court refused the applications.

“Vladimir Kara-Murza now faces 25 years in Russian prison, with his sole 'violation' being publicly opposing the war in Ukraine and standing up to Putin. He is up against a Kangaroo Court with little to no chance of a fair trial. Vladimir Kara-Murza is a US resident and has close ties to the United States: his wife and three children are US citizens. It is in the US national interest to do everything possible to save his life and free him from captivity.”

See the entire letter here.

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