Chair Cardin Presses for Vladimir Kara-Murza to be Labelled “Unlawfully and Wrongfully Detained”

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced that he and Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) co-led a group of 80 bipartisan and bicameral lawmakers urging the Biden Administration to label Vladimir Kara-Murza as "Unlawfully and Wrongfully Detained." The letter comes as Kara-Murza marked two years of imprisonment by the Russian government for opposing the Putin regime's attacks on democracy and its unprovoked war against Ukraine.

"Nearly a year has passed. Mr. Kara-Murza still lives in prison - for now - and you have yet to grant him this designation," wrote the lawmakers. "Mr. Kara-Murza is a powerful voice for a democratic Russia. He dreams of a nation governed by the rule of law, committed to peace with its neighbours. His only crime was to oppose the crimes of the Putin regime. Vladimir Kara-Murza is a lawful permanent U.S. resident. His wife and three children are U.S. citizens. It is in the U.S. national interest to free him and to save his life. The time to act is now."

Recently, Chair Cardin hosted a bipartisan and bicameral group of lawmakers, human rights groups, and policy organizations this week to call for Kara-Murza's immediate release. Click here to watch the event.

Click here to watch Chair Cardin speak on MSNBC's Morning Joe on the two year anniversary of his incarceration.

A copy of the letter can be found here and below.

Dear Secretary Blinken,

There is little time left to end the ongoing and unjust detention of U.S. Legal Permanent Resident and Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza. Mr. Kara-Murza is one of the most important opposition politicians in Russia, a key proponent of the Magnitsky Act, and a regular Washington Post contributor.

In spring of 2022, Mr. Kara-Murza used a series of addresses to the U.S. Helsinki Commission and the Arizona House of Representatives to denounce Russia's aggression in Ukraine. The Putin regime responded with characteristic aggression. It detained Mr. Kara-Murza and sentenced him to 25 years of jailtime. Today, he endures solitary confinement in a Siberian maximum-security prison.

Mr. Kara-Murza's family has grave concerns that he may not survive much longer.

His situation is even more perilous following the killing of Alexei Navalny. Mr. Kara-Murza is the most prominent imprisoned democracy activist still alive in Russia. Other prominent Russian political prisoners and dissidents have made calls to the international community urging immediate action for his release.

On April 19, 2023, a bipartisan group of 50 senators and 31 representatives wrote asking you to give Mr. Kara-Murza the designation of unlawfully and wrongfully detained under the Levinson Act (22 U.S.C. 1741 seq). We also asked that the United States government use its resources, including those under the July 19th, 2022, Executive Order, to free him.

Nearly a year has passed. Mr. Kara-Murza still lives in prison - for now - and you have yet to grant him this designation.

Mr. Kara-Murza is a powerful voice for a democratic Russia. He dreams of a nation governed by the rule of law, committed to peace with its neighbours. His only crime was to oppose the crimes of the Putin regime. Vladimir Kara-Murza is a lawful permanent U.S. resident. His wife and three children are U.S. citizens. It is in the U.S. national interest to free him and to save his life. The time to act is now.

Once again, we call on you to designate Mr. Kara-Murza as unlawfully detained and to deliver his release from Russian imprisonment. We ask you to save his life while that can still be done.

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