The court rejected the appeal of the Russian oppositionist; Twice poisoned and taken to prison

After repeatedly denouncing Russia's war in Ukraine and lobbying for Western sanctions against Russia, Kara-Murza, who holds both Russian and British citizenship, was sentenced to 25 years in prison last April for alleged treason, while his appeal against the sentence was rejected earlier this month, reports Reuters.

The 42-year-old Russian opposition politician and former journalist survived two poisoning attempts, the first of which occurred in 2015 when he was hospitalized in Moscow, a few months after his colleague, opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, was shot dead at bridge near the Kremlin.

After the appearance of similar symptoms in 2017, Kara-Murza was put into a medically induced coma and put on life support. An investigation conducted by Bellingcat later determined that Kara-Murza was followed by the same unit of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) that allegedly poisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2020, who died in prison in the far north of Russia in February this year.

Kara-Murza's wife, Evgenia, says that after the poisoning attempt, her husband was left with nervous disorders, which is why she fears for his life in prison. His lawyer sent requests to the Investigative Committee to investigate the possibility of poisoning, but that request was not accepted.

Today, the court in Moscow rejected Kara-Murza's appeal against that decision.

Speaking via video link from a Siberian prison, Kara-Murza called investigators' claims that they investigated allegations of attempted murder and interviewed witnesses "a straight lie, documented in court," Mediazona reported.