Kremlin opponent defiant in statement during treason trial

Jailed Kremlin opponent Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr. is likening judicial proceedings against him to the sham Stalin-era and later proceedings that condemned his countrymen to prison or death sentences. He told a court Monday he’s proud of his public statements and behavior for which he’s facing charges of treason and spreading false information about the Russian military in Ukraine. Kara-Murza, a journalist and a prominent government opponent who twice survived poisonings he blamed on the Kremlin, has been behind bars since his arrest a year ago. Speaking to a Moscow court, he said the level of opaqueness about the charges against him surpassed the trials of Soviet dissidents in the 1960s and 1970s, and the language used against him was reminiscent of the 1930s.