Image source, Shutterstock Image caption, Alexei Navalny passedaway unexpectedly in a chastening nest last week By Sarah Rainsford Eastern Europe reporter Following the death of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, another political detainee is attempting to keep the hope of modification alive – even from behind bars. “Freedom expenses verymuch,” the opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza assoonas composed to me from a Russian jail cell. He was pricingquote his political coach, Boris Nemtsov, who was killed in 2015 in Moscow – right nextto the Kremlin. Now Russian President Vladimir Putin’s greatest competing, Alexei Navalny, is dead. The rate of political opposition has neverever been greater in contemporary Russia or the objective of modification so remote. Media caption, Watch: Russians dragged away after leaving Navalny homages Such is the worry of reprisal that Navalny’s death did not trigger mass, upset demonstrations. Several hundred individuals were apprehended simply for laying flowers in his memory. But Mr Kara-Murza declines to desert either his battle or his hope. This week he advised opposition advocates to “work even harder” to attain what Navalny and Nemtsov had battled for: the possibility to live in a totallyfree nation. He made his own option, long earlier. “The rate of speaking out is high,” the activist composed to me, quickly after his arrest in2022 “But the cost of silence is undesirable.” Strong males Image source, Reuters Image caption, Opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza hasactually been sentenced to 25 years for treason Alexei Navalny, who was 47, and Vladimir Kara-Murza, 42, are really various males. Navalny was a social-media phenomenon, a charming speaker with some of the egotism of a natural-born leader. Mr Kara-Murza is a gently spoken intellectual – more back-room lobbyist than crowd-gatherer. He’s not a home name in Russia even now. But both males shared the verysame drive and a conviction that Putin’s Russia was not everlasting and political flexibility was possible. Whilst Navalny produced video exposés of corruption at the greatest level of power, Mr Kara-Murza lobbied Western federalgovernments for sanctions to target authorities’ possessions and money stowedaway abroad. In 2015, 5 years before Navalny was assaulted with a nerve representative, Mr Kara-Murza collapsed and fell into a coma. Two years lateron, it tookplace onceagain. Tests in the UnitedStates validated he hadactually been poisoned. But he neverever stopped speaking his mind, which consistedof knocking Mr Putin’s major intrusion of Ukraine. Last year, Mr Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years for treason – although the charge sheet noted absolutelynothing however tranquil oppo
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