Announcement

Vladimir Kara-Murza, 2018 Civil Courage Prize Laureate and Russian pro-democracy leader, is released from detention in prisoner exchange deal between the U.S. and Russia

New York, NY August 2, 2024

The Civil Courage Prize is thrilled to announce the release of pro-democracy leader, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author, and filmmaker Vladimir Kara-Murza. 

Kara-Murza was awarded the Civil Courage Prize in 2018 for his outspokenness against Vladimir Putin’s regime and his promotion of civil liberties in Russia. The Trustees of the Civil Courage Prize selected Kara-Murza as its 18th laureate because he has continually embodied the essence of civil courage: steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk. 

Kara-Murza has spent the last two years (of a 25-year sentence) unjustly imprisoned for his activism, and particularly his opposition of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Prior to being arbitrarily imprisoned, Kara-Murza was the victim of two poisoning attempts by the Kremlin in 2015 and 2017, which resulted in his development of polyneuropathy – a nerve condition which causes peripheral nerves to malfunction.

Particularly following the killing of prominent, imprisoned Russian opposition leader and 2022 Civil Courage Prize laureate Alexei Navalny, there was increased concern among the international community about Kara-Murza’s declining health while in detention.

On July 31, 2024, the United States, Russia, and others engaged in a 24-person prisoner exchange – one of the largest since the Cold War. 12 Russian dissidents were consequently released. Among them was Vladimir Kara-Murza, who will likely be flown to the states in the coming days, where his wife and three children are based. 

Kara-Murza has fought fearlessly for democracy and freedom in his home country, and the Civil Courage Prize is elated that he will now be able to be reunited with his family while recovering from years of arbitrary detention and politically-motivated attacks on his health. He holds our utmost admiration for his steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk. Vladimir Kara-Murza, like fellow laureate Alexei Navalny, continually prioritized his ideals and the advancement of justice over his own safety. We are thankful for his release, and will continue to honor his work while we mourn the horrific death of Mr. Navalny.

Listen to his post-release interview with the Washington Post.

Vladimiir Kara-Murza is the chairman of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom, vice chairman of the Open Russia movement, and a Washington Post contributor. As a longtime colleague of Nemtsov’s, Kara-Murza played a major role in the passage of the Magnitsky Act, a U.S. law that imposed targeted sanctions on Russian human rights violators. To read more about Vladimir Kara-Murza, visit his laureate profile, here.

For inquiries about the Civil Courage Prize, contact Makda Mehari at executivedirector@civilcourageprize.org