Lawmakers say Kara-Murza case spotlights administration’s shortfalls with political prisoners

Lawmakers criticized the State Department for its lack of communication and urgency when dealing with political prisoners and hostages during a U.S. Helsinki Commission hearing Wednesday.

Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war were central to the discussion.

“They are bullies who want to control the people that they despise, and they do not understand any of the concepts of humanity, of getting along, and of trying to make the world a better place,” Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) said of Hamas and Russia. 

The Helsinki Commission is an independent government agency formed in 1976 to strengthen the legitimacy of human rights monitoring in American foreign policy. The commission is made up of nine senators, nine House members, and a member each from the departments of State, Defense and Commerce.

One witness was Evgenia Kara-Murza, whose husband, political prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza, was sentenced to 25 years in Russian prison for his vocal opposition to the war in Ukraine, which included his previous testimonies before Congress.

When Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) asked how often she hears from the State Department about the status of his case, Kara-Murza said she does not regularly communicate with the department.

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), chair of the commission, said that despite receiving an invitation to the hearing, the State Department failed to send a representative. He also noted the State Department did not send a representative to last month’s hearing discussing Kara-Murza’s imprisonment.

“Efforts to get them [State Department] to respond have been nil, and it’s very frustrating,” Cohen said. “I know Secretary Blinken has the right values, but he doesn’t act. Without action, values are limited.”

The State Department demanded his release in an April statement.

Despite calls for the department to deem Kara-Murza’s imprisonment an arbitrary detainment, it has not yet done so and has not given lawmakers or families a reason.

“The least the U.S. can do is have him declared an arbitrarily detained person,” said Irwin Cotler, chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, former Minister of Justice and former attorney general of Canada.

Witnesses also urged lawmakers to create more proactive policy when it comes to hostages and political prisoners.

Jared Genser, an international human rights lawyer, suggested making provisions to the Levinson Act, which aims to assist U.S. hostages or political prisoners by imposing sanctions on captors and providing support for families of those who are held captive or wrongfully imprisoned.

“While I think the U.S. does a better job [than any other country] on these issues, helping our nationals abroad, there’s a lot more that we can do,” Genser said.