About this Event
Vladimir Kara-Murza (born 7 September 1981 in Moscow) is a Russian opposition politician, journalist, historian and pro-democracy activist. Educated at the University of Cambridge, where he earned a master's degree in history, he began his career as a journalist, working for outlets including the BBC, Kommersant and Echo of Moscow. He subsequently became active in Russian opposition politics, working closely with opposition leader Boris Nemtsov and serving as deputy leader of the People's Freedom Party. He also played an important role in lobbying Western governments to introduce Magnitsky sanctions against Russian officials accused of corruption and human rights abuses.
Kara-Murza survived two suspected poisoning attempts, in 2015 and 2017, both of which left him in a coma. In April 2022, he was arrested in Moscow after publicly condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine and was sentenced to 25 years in Pr*son on charges including treason. He was released in August 2024 as part of a major international prisoner exchange. While imprisoned, he won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for his Washington Post columns. He continues to campaign for democracy and human rights in Russia and serves as vice-president of the Free Russia Foundation. He was also awarded the Council of Europe's Václav Havel Human Rights Prize in 2022.
Event venue & nearby stays
New College, New College, Oxford, United Kingdom