The opening of the trial against a prominent Russian opposition activist who twice nearly died after what he says were deliberate poisoning attacks was delayed until March 20 after his lawyer told the court his health had "significantly deteriorated."
Preliminary hearings in the case against Vladimir Kara-Murza, 41, began earlier this week in Moscow ahead of the trial’s expected formal opening on March 16.
But lawyer Vadim Prokhorov said in a statement on Facebook that at the beginning of the session at the Moscow City Court, the judge read a certificate from the medical unit of Kara-Murza's detention facility that he could not participate in the trial "until the end of the current course of treatment" being prescribed.
It added that he is being treated for polyneuropathy, which he is suffering from as a result of the two poison attacks.
"What is happening clearly indicates that there are clear problems with Vladimir's health -- as even doctors of the Russian penitentiary system began to show concern," Prokhorov wrote.
He added that the defense team "will take all possible measures for his immediate examination in a civil hospital and to undergo a course of treatment" and that it will move to have his detention status changed.
Prokhorov said it was unclear as to whether Kara-Murza would be able to take part in the next session on March 20.
Kara-Murza, who was detained in April 2022 after returning to Russia from abroad, is the latest in a string of opposition activists, reporters, and others who have been arrested and prosecuted amid a growing Kremlin crackdown on civil society.
Prosecutors initially charged him with disobeying a police officer but later added a new allegation of discrediting the Russian military, a charge stemming from Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine and a Kremlin push to stamp out criticism or dissent on the subject.
State treason charges were later added, with prosecutors citing remarks he made in speeches outside of Russia that criticized Kremlin policies.
If convicted, he faces a possible prison sentence of up to 25 years, his lawyer has said.
Аt a preliminary hearing in Moscow City Court on March 13, which was ordered held behind closed doors, Kara-Murza entered a plea of not guilty, according to his lawyers. His allies later posted a copy of the allegations to his Twitter account, saying, “I don't understand the accusation. I do not plead guilty.”
“Of course, this is a politically motivated process,” defense lawyer Vadim Prokhorov said outside the courthouse on March 13. “This is the persecution of a opposition activist for his criticism.”
A top deputy to former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down near the Kremlin in 2015, Kara-Murza had cultivated ties and support with Western lawmakers and policymakers, particularly in the United States.
The late U.S. Senator John McCain was a proponent of Kara-Murza's efforts, and he served as a pallbearer at McCain's funeral in 2018.
Kara-Murza fell ill twice while traveling in Russia in two different situations, first in 2015 and then again in 2017. In both cases, he was hospitalized in critical condition but eventually recovered.
His family members brought tissue samples out of Russia for independent testing to try and determine what was behind the sudden illnesses.
The FBI investigated the case as “intentional poisoning” and enlisted its crime laboratories and some of the federal government’s elite scientific laboratories to examine the samples.
The effort was also unusual in that it drew the attention and involvement of FBI Director Christopher Wray and members of the White House National Security Council.
Kara-Murza has blamed Russian security services for the two incidents.
In 2021, the open-source intelligence group Bellingcat identified what it said were members of a Russian Federal Security Service team who had tailed Kara-Murza prior to his alleged poisonings. Member of the same team, Bellingcat said, were also involved in the near fatal poisoning of Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny, who German scientists said was exposed to a potent nerve agent known as Novichok.