Political prisoners: Lawyer: No contact with Kremlin opponents – prisoner exchange?

Following reports of the transfer of numerous political prisoners in Russia, lawyers say that contact with the most well-known imprisoned opposition figure, Vladimir Kara-Mursa, is now also missing. His legal counsel has not been allowed to see the politician in a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk for the second day, lawyer Vadim Prokhorov said on Facebook. Kara-Mursa’s whereabouts are unknown.

Prokhorov criticized that this was a clear violation of the law even under current Russian law. At the same time, he pointed out that a special aircraft belonging to the state government airline Rossija, a Tu-214, had taken off from Omsk in the afternoon – with Moscow as its destination. It was unclear whether Kara-Mursa was on board. The 42-year-old, who is in serious health after poison attacks, was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Will the Berlin “Tiergarten murderer” be released?

For days, there has been increasing speculation about a possible prisoner exchange involving a large number of detainees, including several Kremlin opponents. Russia wants to force the release of the so-called Tiergarten murderer, who is imprisoned in Germany.

Kara-Mursa was supposed to appear in court this Thursday for a hearing in a legal dispute with the prison administration, said Prokhorov. However, the court said that his attendance was unlikely. They did not confirm a transfer, however.

All of those detained are opponents of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and received long sentences. The West had criticized the verdicts as arbitrary justice and demanded the release of the prisoners.

Putin open to exchange

Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, who has been criticized for using political prisoners as hostages to force the release of Russians from Western prisons, has recently repeatedly declared his willingness to make an exchange. The USA, for example, wants to secure the release of its citizens Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich, the journalist from the Wall Street Journal, who have been convicted of espionage.

Putin is particularly interested in the Russian Vadim K., who is imprisoned in Germany and was convicted of murdering a Chechen exile in the Kleiner Tiergarten in Berlin. K. is said to have committed the crime on behalf of Russian state authorities.

In Belarus, ruler Alexander Lukashenko lifted the death penalty against German Rico K. on Tuesday. Previously, there had been speculation that the German could be exchanged for the “Tiergarten murderer.”