Vladimir Kara-Murza, a 42-year old Russian opposition politician and author, who has been imprisoned in Russia since April 2022, was awarded the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in journalism.
The Pulitzer judges recognized Kara-Mura’s “passionate columns written under great personal risk from his prison cell, warning of the consequences of dissent in Vladimir Putin’s Russia and insisting on a democratic future for his country.”
For Kara-Murza himself the consequences are dire indeed: the critic of the Kremlin, who has survived two attempts on his life in 2015 and 2017, is serving a 25-year prison sentence for voicing his opposition to the war in Ukraine. The politician was accused of treason, spreading fakes about Russia’s Armed Forces, and facilitating activities of an undesirable organization.
Kara-Murza is held in prison in Omsk, with almost no contact to the outside world. His wife Evgenya accepted the award on his behalf, thanking the Washington Post for ensuring that her husband’s voice is heard today.
Kara-Murza, a close ally of the assassinated Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, has been recognized with numerous other awards including the Sakharov Prize for Journalism as an Act of Conscience, the Magnitsky Human Rights Award, and the Geneva Summit Courage Award.
Joining others in congratulating Kara-Murza with the prestigious award, the ASF wishes to see him, and other political prisoners freed as soon as possible.