[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 145 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 145

Calling for the immediate release of Russian opposition leader Vladimir 
        Kara-Murza, who was unjustly detained on April 11, 2022.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 30, 2023

    Mr. Rubio (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Coons, Mr. 
    Ricketts, Mrs. Shaheen, and Mr. Risch) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Calling for the immediate release of Russian opposition leader Vladimir 
        Kara-Murza, who was unjustly detained on April 11, 2022.

Whereas Vladimir Vladimirovich Kara-Murza (referred to in this preamble as ``Mr. 
        Kara-Murza'') has tirelessly worked for decades to advance the cause of 
        freedom, democracy, and human rights for the people of the Russian 
        Federation;
Whereas, in retaliation for his advocacy, two attempts have been made on Mr. 
        Kara-Murza's life, as--

    (1) on May 26, 2015, Mr. Kara-Murza fell ill with symptoms indicative 
of poisoning and was hospitalized; and

    (2) on February 2, 2017, he fell ill with similar symptoms and was 
placed in a medically induced coma;

Whereas independent investigations conducted by Bellingcat, the Insider, and Der 
        Spiegel found that the same unit of the Federal Security Service of the 
        Russian Federation responsible for poisoning Mr. Kara-Murza was 
        responsible for poisoning Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and 
        activists Timur Kuashev, Ruslan Magomedragimov, and Nikita Isayev;
Whereas, on February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin launched another unprovoked, 
        unjustified, and illegal invasion into Ukraine in contravention of the 
        obligations freely undertaken by the Russian Federation to respect the 
        territorial integrity of Ukraine under the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, 
        the Minsk protocols of 2014 and 2015, and international law;
Whereas, on March 5, 2022, Vladimir Putin signed a law criminalizing the 
        distribution of truthful statements about the invasion of Ukraine by the 
        Russian Federation and mandating up to 15 years in prison for such 
        offenses;
Whereas, since February 24, 2022, Mr. Kara-Murza has used his voice and platform 
        to join more than 15,000 citizens of the Russian Federation in 
        peacefully protesting the war against Ukraine and millions more who 
        silently oppose the war;
Whereas, on April 11, 2022, five police officers arrested Mr. Kara-Murza in 
        front of his home and denied his right to an attorney, and the next day 
        Mr. Kara-Murza was sentenced to 15 days in prison for disobeying a 
        police order;
Whereas, on April 22, 2022, the Investigative Committee of the Russian 
        Federation charged Mr. Kara-Murza with violations under the law signed 
        on March 5, 2022, for his fact-based statements condemning the invasion 
        of Ukraine by the Russian Federation;
Whereas Mr. Kara-Murza was then placed into pretrial detention and ordered to be 
        held until at least June 12, 2022;
Whereas, if convicted of those charges, Mr. Kara-Murza faces detention in a 
        penitentiary system that human rights nongovernmental organizations have 
        criticized for widespread torture, ill-treatment, and suspicious deaths 
        of prisoners;
Whereas, on May 26, 2022, the United States Senate unanimously agreed to Senate 
        Resolution 632 (117th Congress) calling for the immediate release of Mr. 
        Kara-Murza, Alexei Navalny, and other citizens of the Russian Federation 
        imprisoned for opposing the regime of Vladimir Putin and the war against 
        Ukraine;
Whereas, on July 27, 2022, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation 
        charged Mr. Kara-Murza for his alleged engagements with Free Russia 
        Foundation and Open Russia, both of which are nongovernmental 
        organizations targeted by the law of the Russian Federation on 
        undesirable organizations;
Whereas, on October 6, 2022, the Investigative Committee of the Russian 
        Federation charged Mr. Kara-Murza with high treason on the grounds that 
        he cooperated with a North Atlantic Treaty Organization member nation, 
        which was corroborated by the public speeches he delivered in the United 
        States, Portugal, and Finland;
Whereas, on March 3, 2023, in response to bipartisan requests from Congress, the 
        United States Government imposed sanctions under the Global Magnitsky 
        Human Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.) on three 
        Russian individuals, Elena Anatolievna Lenskaya, Andrei Andreevich 
        Zadachin, and Danila Yurievich Mikheev, for their involvement in the 
        unjust detention of Mr. Kara-Murza; and
Whereas Mr. Kara-Murza's attorney reported that his client's health deteriorated 
        to the point that he was unfit to attend his hearing on March 16, 2023, 
        as Mr. Kara-Murza was being treated for polyneuropathy, a condition that 
        he sustained from poison attacks on May 26, 2015, and February 2, 2017: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) condemns the unjust detention and indicting of Russian 
        opposition leader Vladimir Vladimirovich Kara-Murza, who has 
        courageously stood up to oppression in the Russian Federation;
            (2) expresses solidarity with Vladimir Vladimirovich Kara-
        Murza, his family, and all individuals in the Russian 
        Federation imprisoned for exercising their fundamental freedoms 
        of speech, assembly, and belief;
            (3) urges the United States Government and other allied 
        governments to work to secure the immediate release of Vladimir 
        Vladimirovich Kara-Murza, Alexei Navalny, and other citizens of 
        the Russian Federation imprisoned for opposing the regime of 
        Vladimir Putin and the war against Ukraine; and
            (4) calls on the President to increase support provided by 
        the United States Government for those advocating for democracy 
        and independent media in the Russian Federation, which Vladimir 
        Vladimirovich Kara-Murza has worked to advance.
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