Evgenia Kara-Murza

Evgenia Kara-Murza is a Russian human rights advocate, democracy campaigner, and public speaker. She has graduated with honors from the Moscow State Linguistic University and has worked as a translator and interpreter for several non-governmental organizations, including the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, PEN America, the Institute of Modern Russia, and the Free Russia Foundation. She has lectured at universities internationally, including Oxford and Harvard. After her husband, Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, was imprisoned for denouncing the war in Ukraine, Evgenia led a global advocacy campaign for his release and for the release of other Russian political prisoners. Vladimir was freed in August 2024 along with 15 others as part of the largest East-West prisoner exchange since the Cold War. A passionate advocate in her own right, Evgenia Kara-Murza is engaged in a global campaign of solidarity with Russian anti-war and pro-democracy activists inside and outside the country and continues to speak out on behalf of political prisoners. She currently serves as President of the 30 October Foundation, a non-profit organization she and her husband established to provide financial support to families of political prisoners in Russia. Evgenia is a recipient of several international awards, including the Democracy Service Medal from the National Endowment for Democracy, the Lantos Human Rights Prize, and the Freedom of Expression Trustee Award from Index on Censorship. Evgenia and Vladimir Kara-Murza have three children.