Council of Europe Secretary General, Croatia's Marija Pejcinovic-Buric, asked Russia on Monday to release opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison earlier in the day.

“I strongly condemn the sentencing of Russian opposition leader, Vladimir Kara-Murza, to 25 years in prison following a sham trial. Mr Kara-Murza was imprisoned and prosecuted a year ago for speaking out on Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine,”  Pejcinovic-Buric said in a statement issued by her office in Strasbourg.

“As he bravely stated in his final remarks to the court ‘This is the price of not remaining silent in Russia today.’ His case is another illustration of ongoing repression in the Russian Federation. Despite Russia’s attempts to silence critics, their voices are being heard worldwide and will not be forgotten,” Pejcinovic-Buric said.

Kara-Murza is a 41-year-old father of three and former journalist with Russian and British passports who has spent years opposing the policies of President Vladimir Putin and lobbying foreign governments and institutions to impose sanctions on Russia and individual Russians for alleged human rights violations. Russian prosecutors sought 25 years in prison for him for treason and discrediting the Russian military after he criticised Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The Council of Europe stands in full solidarity with Mr Kara-Murza and calls for his immediate release,” Pejcinovic-Buric said.

The Council of Europe is a pan-European organisation for the promotion of democracy and human rights.

Pejcinovic-Buric met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv two weeks ago and said on that occasion that the Council of Europe will stand by Ukraine “as long as it takes”.

In February 2022, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Council of Europe suspended the participation of Russian diplomats in the work of the organisation’s main bodies. Russia left the Council of Europe in March of that year.