History Faculty alumnus Vladimir Kara-Murza has been sentenced to 25 years in jail in Russia for charges linked to his criticism of the war in Ukraine.

The Faculty of History at Cambridge University declares its solidarity with the Cambridge alumnus historian and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, and its dismay at the cruel sentence of 25 years’ imprisonment meted out to him today (17 April 2023) after his trial in Moscow. Kara-Murza completed his undergraduate studies in History in 2003 and holds a BA and MA from the University.

In his powerful closing statement to the court, Kara-Murza invokes the study of history as the key to a humane understanding of our place in the world, even in the darkest places and times. We commend his statement, which will surely find a place among the classics of modern Russian political prose, as a lesson in the value of the study of history as a school for life.

Photo: AFP / BBC News