MOSCOW. April 6 (Interfax) -The public prosecutor has asked the court to sentence opposition activist and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, designated as a foreign agent in Russia, to 25 years in a high security penal colony for high treason, cooperation with an undesirable organization and spreading fakes about the actions of the Russian Armed Forces, his attorney Maria Eismont said.
"The prosecutor has asked for 25 years," Eismont told reporters on Thursday.
The defense will present oral arguments on Friday, she said.
Once the defense has made its oral argument, the parties will have the right to reply. After that, Kara-Murza will be given an opportunity to make his last statement before the judge retires to the deliberation room to deliver the verdict.
Kara-Murza is charged with high treason, spreading of knowingly false information about the actions of the Russian Armed Forces, and cooperating with an organization designated as undesirable in Russia.
Kara-Murza, who is a Russian citizen and a British subject, was arrested in spring 2022 in a case stemming from dissemination of false information about the Russian Armed Forces' activities in Ukraine. In summer 2022, he was indicted for cooperation with the Free Russia Foundation, deemed undesirable in Russia. In October 2022, investigators charged him with treason for speeches made abroad, the defense team said.
Kara-Murza denies all charges and says his prosecution is politically motivated.