Poisoned Putin Opponent at Human Rights Museum

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Vladimir Kara-Murza

One of Russia's most outspoken advocates for democracy and human rights will speak at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg on Oct. 30 as part of its President's Lecture Series.

Vladimir Kara-Murza, a journalist, filmmaker and political activist, has been on the front lines of opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2015, he was poisoned and nearly died – three months after his close friend, opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, was gunned down near the Kremlin. In 2017, Kara-Murza was poisoned again.

Undaunted, he continues to travel the world to raise awareness of corruption and human rights abuses in Russia. He has lobbied foreign governments to pass laws that prevent corrupt officials from channelling their wealth into foreign financial institutions, including the 2017 Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act in Canada and the 2012 Magnitsky Act in the United States.

"Human rights are universal, so accountability for abusing human rights should also be universal," says Kara-Murza, who heads an organization called Open Russia. "People who violate the norms of democracy in their own countries should not be able to enjoy the fruits and privileges of democracy in other countries."

When he is not travelling, Kara-Murza splits his time between Russia and Washington, D.C., where he is a columnist for the Washington Post. In September, he was a pallbearer at the funeral of U.S. Senator John McCain. The museum has posted its recent interview with Kara-Murza online.

Admission is $20, with discounts for members, seniors and students. The lecture will be live-streamed through the Globe and Mail website.

The museum's president, John Young, a former university professor who specialized in post-Soviet Russian studies, met Kara-Murza last spring.

"It takes courageous and committed people to continue pushing for human rights when their lives are in danger," says Young, who worked in Russia at various times between 1988 and 2008.

Kara-Murza has hope for his country's future, saying Russia's youth have recently protested on the streets.

"This is a very optimistic sign, since these young people are the future of Russia. Many of them were born under Putin and you'd think they would be completely brainwashed by Kremlin propaganda. Yet this is the generation that is increasingly taking to the streets to say 'Enough!' They are the target of our work. We want to empower them to become active and informed citizens."

Source: Canadian Museum for Human Rights