The Adam Von Trott Lecture: Why moral courage matters - especially in time of repression

Time and again, history shows that moral courage proves to be stronger than military might and that even a handful of dissidents bravely opposing a dictatorship can contribute to its downfall.

Evgenia Kara-Murza graduated with honours from the Moscow State Linguistic University and worked as translator and interpreter for several non-governmental human rights organizations including the International Centre for Nonviolent Conflict, Modern Russia, and the Free Russia Foundation before joining her husband Vladimir Kara-Murza, a prominent Russian politician and human rights activist, in his pro-democracy and human rights work.

As Advocacy Director of the Free Russia Foundation, Evgenia Kara-Murza helps FRF’s efforts in public diplomacy and global outreach on behalf of Russian civil society.

Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced in Russia to 25 years for high treason in a politically motivated case, and Evgenia Kara-Murza ensures the continuation of her husband’s years-long work on engaging multilateral oversight mechanisms to hold the Russian government to account over violating its international commitments on human rights, democracy, and the rule of law, and on establishing personal accountability for Kremlin officials complicit in corruption and human rights abuses.

She is part of FRF’s global campaign for solidarity with Russian anti-war and pro-democracy activists both inside and outside of the country and continues her husband’s work of being a voice of political prisoners in the Russian Federation.