To Vladimir Kara-Murza . . . Russian historian, journalist, author, filmmaker, human rights advocate, and Kremlin critic . . . to you, I offer my sincerest, most heartfelt congratulations on having been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for your columns written from your prison cell in Siberia. For your courage and ingenuity alone, you are more than worthy of this honor. For your words and thoughts, the world is indebted to you.

The announcement of the award was made yesterday, May 7th. It said that he was being recognized for his “passionate columns” as a contributor to The Washington Post from his Siberian prison “under great personal risk.” Despite the danger, his writing “warns of the consequences of dissent in Vladimir Putin’s Russia and insists on a democratic future for his country.” [Mariya Knight, CNN, May 6, 2024.]

Needless to say, Kara-Murza will not be able to accept the award in person; his wife, Evgenia Kara-Murza, will most likely stand in for him.

For those who have not been following his story, he was tried for criminal offenses including treason, spreading “fake news” about the Russian military, and cooperating with an “undesirable organization.” He was sentenced to 25 years in a “strict regime correctional colony,” where he is being kept in solitary confinement and denied essential medical treatment for a debilitating condition. His real crime: criticism of Vladimir Putin.

At the close of his trial in Moscow on April 10, 2023, he was allowed to make a statement. Rather than the traditional apology or plea for mercy, he spoke — as always — from the heart, knowing that he was doing himself no favor. His words, in part, are well worth repeating here:

“Members of the court: I was sure, after two decades spent in Russian politics, after all that I have seen and experienced, that nothing can surprise me anymore. I must admit that I was wrong. I’ve been surprised by the extent to which my trial, in its secrecy and its contempt for legal norms, has surpassed even the ‘trials’ of Soviet dissidents in the 1960s and ‘70s. And that’s not even to mention the harshness of the sentence requested by the prosecution or the talk of ‘enemies of the state.’ In this respect, we’ve gone beyond the 1970s — all the way back to the 1930s. For me, as a historian, this is an occasion for reflection.” [The full column can be found on the Washington Post website.]

Frightening words, harking back to the show trials of the Stalin era. But he speaks the truth, as is painfully obvious from even a cursory review of Vladimir Putin’s 24-year reign . . . officially as President, but in reality, as dictator of Russia. And for this, good men and women such as Vladimir Kara-Murza, Ilya Yashin, Alsu Kurmasheva, Boris Akunin, and countless others are rotting in Russian prisons, while others like Boris Nemtsov, Alexei Navalny, Anna Politkovskaya, Boris Berezovsky, Aleksandr Litvinenko, and more have paid with their lives.

As long as the noble survivors continue to speak out, perhaps there is hope. We cannot stand by and allow the good people of Russia to be dragged back into the horrors of the 70-year communist experiment. Even the honor of a Pulitzer Prize is not enough; the lives of these heroes must not have been sacrificed in vain. They need our unflagging support.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
5/8/24