Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza was removed from his prison in Siberia and is being transferred elsewhere, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing Russia’s prison service.
Prison authorities told the agency that Kara-Murza, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence for treason and other charges, was removed from the IK-16 penal colony in the Omsk region and sent to an unspecified destination.
The FlightRadar24 aircraft tracking portal showed a charter flight traveling from Omsk to Moscow, but it was unclear if this flight was connected to Kara-Murza’s reported transfer.
Kara-Murza had been scheduled to attend a court hearing in Omsk on Thursday.
Independent broadcaster TV Rain reported earlier Wednesday that the activist’s lawyer had been barred from meeting with him in recent days.
Kara-Murza, a dual Russian-British national, was hospitalized earlier this month. His lawyer Vadim Prokhorov said his client “suffers from a severe chronic disease that prevents him from serving his sentence in a penal colony.”
His reported transfer comes as several other political prisoners jailed in Russia have been reportedly moved to unknown locations in recent days, fueling speculation that Moscow is preparing a large-scale exchange with Western governments.
Kara-Murza was arrested in April 2022 after he publicly criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and pressed Western countries to impose sanctions against the Kremlin.
From behind bars, he has continued to campaign against Putin and urged Moscow to investigate his claims of having been poisoned.
But his family and supporters have raised alarm over his health, which is said to have deteriorated in prison due to a nerve condition he sustained after surviving two poisoning attempts in the 2010s.
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