RSF outraged by arbitrary sentencing of Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva in Russia
A court in Kazan, Russia sentenced Alsu Kurmasheva to six-and-a-half years in prison on 19 July for disseminating “false information” about the Russian army. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is outraged by the unfounded conviction of this journalist, who worked for the Tatar-Bashkir service of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).
"Alsu Kurmasheva's conviction illustrates the unprecedented level of despotism permeating a Russian judiciary that takes orders from the Kremlin. We have just learned that the journalist was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison — after a trial conducted in total secrecy — for broadcasting so-called ‘false information’ about the army. RSF is outraged by this unfounded sentence, which is intended to dissuade journalists from travelling to Russia, and to put pressure on the United States. She must be released immediately.
Kurmasheva is the second American journalist to be arbitrarily imprisoned as a hostage of the Russian authorities. Her American colleague Evan Gershkovich, correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, was also sentenced on Friday, 19 July to 16 years' imprisonment for “espionage.”
Kurmasheva was previously fined 10,000 roubles (around €100) in October 2023 for failing to declare herself as a”foreign agent” when she travelled from Prague — where she lives — to visit her ailing mother. She was arrested shortly afterwards, on 18 October, in Kazan, a Tatar city east of Moscow, where she had been forced to stay after the Russian police confiscated both her Russian and US passports on 2 June.
RSF has launched a petition calling on the United States to declare journalist Alsu Kurmasheva “wrongfully detained,” which would allow all government resources to be mobilised to secure her release.
