A Moscow court sentenced Russian opposition activist and Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza to 25 years in prison for treason, among other charges.
It is the strictest punishment of its kind since Russia invaded Ukraine, reports Reuters.
After the verdict, Kara-Murza gave a short message.
"Russia will be free".
Kara-Murza is 41 years old, the father of three children and a former journalist who holds Russian and British passports, and for years he opposed the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, as a politician. In addition, he lobbied foreign governments and institutions to impose sanctions on Russia and individual Russians for alleged human rights violations.
Russian state prosecutors previously sought a 25-year prison sentence for Kara-Murza, who they accuse of treason and discrediting the Russian military after criticizing what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.
In his final speech before the court, Kara-Murza compared his trial to one of the show trials from the time of Joseph Stalin in the XNUMXs.
He refused to ask the court to release him and said he was standing by and proud of everything he said.
"Criminals should repent for what they did. I, on the other hand, am in prison because of my political views. I know that the day will come when the darkness over our country will dissipate," he said.
Kara-Murza and his supporters say he survived poisoning twice in the past. Russian authorities deny any involvement in the alleged attacks.
He was close to opposition member Boris Nemtsov, who was killed in 2015 near the Kremlin, as well as to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a wealthy businessman who spent ten years in prison for opposing Putin's policies.
Most critics of the Kremlin are in prison or in exile.
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