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Floor Speech
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Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, time is running out. Time is running out for Vladimir Kara-Murza.
I was just at an event across the street with Vladimir Kara-Murza's wife Evgenia and their children. It was a bipartisan meeting of House and Senate Members and interested citizens. We all agree Secretary of State Blinken must secure the release of this U.S. permanent resident and Russian political prisoner, Vladimir Kara-Murza, before it is too late because, as I said, time is running out.
In the spring of 2022, Mr. Kara-Murza spoke the truth about Russia's evil invasion of Ukraine. The Putin regime responded by arresting Mr. Kara-Murza and sentencing him to 25 years in jail for speaking the truth.
Only a corrupt regime would make it a crime to express an opinion to speak the truth. But that is what Vladimir Putin has done. He has arrested an innocent person and put him in jail for speaking the truth.
It has been a year since I led a bipartisan group of 81 lawmakers in an appeal to the Secretary of State--this same Secretary of State Blinken. It was the first anniversary of Mr. Kara-Murza's imprisonment. We urged the administration, on a bipartisan, bicameral basis, to label Vladimir ``unlawfully and wrongfully detained.''
We asked for that designation because that title is more than just words under the statute. It would prioritize Mr. Kara-Murza's case at the State Department, and it would unlock new tools for our negotiators to act with speed and success to get him released. And he needs that speed.
Since we last wrote the Secretary about Mr. Kara-Murza, nothing has changed; nothing has changed, that is, except his decreasing health and increasing danger.
Mr. Kara-Murza's family has grave concerns that he may not survive much longer. So we are talking about the life of this permanent U.S. resident. Before this prison term, the Russian dictator, Putin, had tried twice to assassinate Mr. Kara-Murza by poisoning him. He was indeed poisoned. And although Vladimir survived each attempt, the efforts succeeded in weakening his body.
And then when Alexei Navalny recently died mysteriously in a Russian prison, Mr. Vladimir Kara-Murza became the most prominent imprisoned democracy advocate still alive in Russia. The target on his back has now grown bigger, so it is all the more important that Vladimir be freed.
This week we reach the second anniversary of Mr. Kara-Murza's incarceration. This week, I am leading dozens and dozens of my congressional colleagues in another bipartisan, bicameral request to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. I encourage even more Members to sign on to this letter before we send it to the Secretary later this week.
For 2 years, despite the danger, despite the imprisonment, Mr. Kara- Murza has not been silenced. He refuses to be silenced. Every so often, from behind prison bars, he is able to tell the world his thoughts through newspaper columns, for example.
The world has benefited from his words. No jail cell or word limit has been able to stifle Vladimir Kara-Murza's advocacy. He put it well recently. Last month, from prison colony No. 7 in Siberia, he wrote, ``Sometimes the most powerful tool of all is simply telling the truth.''
Telling the truth in Russia apparently gets you a 25-year sentence. It takes courage to tell the truth in Russia. Let's stand with Mr. Kara- Murza as he tells the truth.
Many of us have worked with him. I consider him a friend. I admire him. He is certainly a friend of this body and of this free Republic. Let's stand with Kara-Murza now.
We have come to know his wife and children who are U.S. citizens. Let's stand with them now as they work for his freedom.
For the second year in a row, we call on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to designate Mr. Vladimir Kara-Murza as ``wrongfully detained.'' We call on Secretary Blinken to secure his release, reunite him with his family, keep his freedom-loving voice from being extinguished. Save his voice while we still can.
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