This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
A court in Moscow on February 22 rejected a lawsuit filed by imprisoned Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza that accused the Investigative Committee of inaction in investigating his suspected poisonings.
Kara-Murza fell deathly ill on two separate occasions in Moscow — in 2015 and 2017 — with symptoms consistent with poisoning.
Tissue samples smuggled from Russia to the United States by his relatives were turned over to the FBI, which investigated his case as one of “intentional poisoning.”
U.S. government laboratories also conducted extensive tests on the samples, but documents released by the Justice Department suggest they were unable to reach a conclusive finding.
The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the incidents.
At the hearing on February 22, Kara-Murza pointed out that investigative reporters of Bellingcat, The Insider, and Der Spiegel had identified four Federal Security Service (FSB) agents — Roman Mezentsev, Aleksandr Samofal, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, and Valery Sukharev — who followed him secretly during both times when he fell ill.
Kara-Murza also said that the investigative report had concluded that some of the identified FSB officers also followed two opposition politicians — Boris Nemtsov, before he was shot dead near the Kremlin in 2015, and Aleksei Navalny who was poisoned with a Novichok-type nerve agent in 2020.
Kara-Murza added that Navalny’s assassination was accomplished last week. Navalny died in a remote prison in Russia’s Arctic on February 16.
Kara-Murza, 42, who holds Russian and British passports, was initially arrested in April 2022 after returning to Russia from abroad and charged with disobeying a police officer.
He was later charged with discrediting the Russian military, a charge stemming from Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and a Kremlin push to stamp out criticism of the subject. He was later additionally charged with treason over remarks he made in speeches outside Russia that criticized Kremlin policies.
In April 2023, Kara-Murza was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He and his supporters reject the charges as politically motivated.
