A court said on Monday it had sentenced a Russian-American journalist to six-and-a-half years in prison for allegedly spreading false information about the Russian military.
The court in Kazan, some 800 kilometers to the east of Moscow, revealed that Alsu Kurmasheva, who works for U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was sentenced on Friday after two days of proceedings.
On the same day, a court in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Ural region, sentenced Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, another U.S. citizen, to 16 years in prison for espionage, after a three-day closed trial.
Both his newspaper and the U.S. government have condemned the trial as unjust, with Washington working to secure his release.
Stephen Capus, president and CEO of RFE/RL, criticized Kurmasheva’s trial and conviction, calling it “a mockery of justice.”
On the same day, a court in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Ural region, sentenced Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, another U.S. citizen, to 16 years in prison for espionage, after a three-day closed trial.
Both his newspaper and the U.S. government have condemned the trial as unjust, with Washington working to secure his release.
Stephen Capus, president and CEO of RFE/RL, criticized Kurmasheva’s trial and conviction, calling it “a mockery of justice.”
“The only just outcome is for Alsu to be immediately released from prison by her Russian captors,” Capus said in a statement. “It’s beyond time for this American citizen, our dear colleague, to be reunited with her loving family,” Capus said.
Kurmasheva, 47, who is based in Prague, was detained on October 18 after visiting family in her native Tatarstan, Russia. She was apprehended while trying to leave Russia, and her passports were seized.
A court initially fined her for not declaring her U.S. passport, as required by Russian law. A week later, she was charged with failing to register as a “foreign agent,” an accusation to which she pleaded not guilty.
Her husband, Pavel Butorin, who also works for RFE/RL, wrote on X: “My daughters and I know Alsu has done nothing wrong. And the world knows it too. We need her home.”
Butorin suggested that her arrest was related to her work on a book titled “Saying No to War. 40 Stories of Russians Who Oppose the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.”
Gershkovich and Kurmasheva are among several Americans imprisoned in Russia amid the country’s worst relations with the U.S. since the Cold War.
RFE/RL, which has been broadcasting news about Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union since the Cold War, is funded by the U.S. Congress.
Moscow has labeled RFE/RL a “foreign agent” and an “undesirable” organization, essentially banning it from operating in Russia.
Since the Kremlin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russian courts have imposed long prison terms on those convicted of criticizing the war, under laws banning “false” information about the military.
Butorin has urged the U.S. government to designate Kurmasheva as wrongfully detained, similar to its designation of Gershkovich, to facilitate diplomatic efforts for her release.
Kurmasheva, 47, who is based in Prague, was detained on October 18 after visiting family in her native Tatarstan, Russia. She was apprehended while trying to leave Russia, and her passports were seized.
A court initially fined her for not declaring her U.S. passport, as required by Russian law. A week later, she was charged with failing to register as a “foreign agent,” an accusation to which she pleaded not guilty.
Her husband, Pavel Butorin, who also works for RFE/RL, wrote on X: “My daughters and I know Alsu has done nothing wrong. And the world knows it too. We need her home.”
Butorin suggested that her arrest was related to her work on a book titled “Saying No to War. 40 Stories of Russians Who Oppose the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.”
Gershkovich and Kurmasheva are among several Americans imprisoned in Russia amid the country’s worst relations with the U.S. since the Cold War.
RFE/RL, which has been broadcasting news about Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union since the Cold War, is funded by the U.S. Congress.
Moscow has labeled RFE/RL a “foreign agent” and an “undesirable” organization, essentially banning it from operating in Russia.
Since the Kremlin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russian courts have imposed long prison terms on those convicted of criticizing the war, under laws banning “false” information about the military.
Butorin has urged the U.S. government to designate Kurmasheva as wrongfully detained, similar to its designation of Gershkovich, to facilitate diplomatic efforts for her release.
Source: Euractiv
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