Imprisoned Kremlin critic Kara-Murza transferred to a prison hospital, his wife and lawyers say

Associated Press

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The wife and lawyer of imprisoned Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza say he has been transferred to a prison hospital, where his attorneys have been unable to visit him since Thursday. The development comes as the Kremlin continues its unrelenting crackdown on dissent. Kara-Murza was convicted of treason last year over a number of public speeches harshly critical of the Kremlin. He has rejected the charges against him as politically motivated. He is serving 25 years, the stiffest sentence for a Kremlin critic in modern Russia, in a penal colony in the Siberian city of Omsk. Kara-Murza’s wife and lawyers have regularly sounded the alarm about his deteriorating health that has apparently worsened behind bars.