
Russian authorities have opened a criminal case against known opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr and have left him in custody on the claim of spreading "false information" to the country's armed forces.
Mr. Murza's lawyer said Friday that the indictment cites a March 15 speech to the House of Representatives of the U.S. state of Arizona. Russian media reported that similar accusations were being filed against a head of a tech firm, former publisher of the main Independent Russian website, Meduza.
Shortly after its troops began the aggression in Ukraine, Russia passed a law criminalizing what it calls the spread of false information about its military. This criminal offence is punishable by imprisonment of up to 15 years. Human rights defenders have so far counted 32 cases targeting war critics.