Kremlin opponent Kara-Murza is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his prison-penned columns.
Kara-Murza, a Russian dissident who is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for speaking out against Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his columns in The Washington Post.The Pulitzer Prize committee praised his "passionate columns" and highlighted how he wrote these from prison, "under great personal risk." His writing "warns of the consequences of dissent in Vladimir Putin's Russia and insists on a democratic future for his country."
Kara-Murza's wife, Evgenia, expressed her sadness that her husband couldn't receive the award in person, saying "I'm truly heartbroken that my husband couldn't be here to accept this high distinction by himself." She expressed her gratitude to The Washington Post for amplifying her husband's voice.
Kara-Murza was first detained in April 2022, right after giving an interview to CNN where he criticized Putin's regime. He was charged with a range of criminal offenses, including treason, spreading fake news about the Russian army, and facilitating activities of an undesirable organization.
In response to Russia's criminalization of criticism of the military following its invasion of Ukraine, Kara-Murza was sentenced to serve his time in a "strict regime correctional colony."
The political dissident has been a vocal critic of Putin for years and has survived two poisoning attempts. He made a public statement against the war at the Arizona House of Representatives in March 2022 and spoke out against Putin's regime for targeting critics in his interview with CNN in April 2022. After the interview, he was arrested for "failing to obey the orders of law enforcement," as per his wife.
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Source: edition.cnn.com
