Russian President Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny’s death has sent waves of fear among Putin’s dissidents. Be it activists in prison or outside, fear of death looms over them.
The wife of jailed Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza on Monday expressed fear and concern for the lives of many political prisoners in Russia, including her husband's, after Navalny died in an Arctic prison last month.
Earlier, Kara-Murza had warned that the Russian hit squad is 'physically eliminating' Putin's critics.
Kara-Murza had condemned Russia's war in Ukraine and also lobbied for Western sanctions against Moscow. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison over treason and other charges last April.
It was the harshest sentence imposed on an opposition politician since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
"I understand that lives of many people who ended up behind bars today because of their opposition to the regime, many lives are in danger," Evgenia Kara-Murza, advocacy director at the Free Russia Foundation, a civil society organisation, was quoted by Reuters.
"That is not just my husband's life who is indeed a years-long opponent of the regime, but also the lives of strong and vocal opponents of Vladimir Putin," she added.
She also urged for prisoner swaps.
Kara-Murza said that the lives of other activists, including Alexandra Skochilenko and Alexei Gorinov, a Moscow district councillor jailed for criticising Russia's invasion, were also at risk.
His wife claimed that Kara-Murza, suffering from a neurological condition after surviving two poison attempts, was transferred to a new Siberian penal colony in January and placed in solitary confinement. He was not allowed to receive phone calls or visits
Now he's being held by basically the same people who tried to kill him twice in the past," Evgenia Kara-Murza said.
Navalny had died in a prison camp on February 16. However, the Kremlin has denied any state involvement in his death.
