Kurmasheva, an editor with the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) outlet in Prague, was convicted on Friday - the same day as a separate Russian court sentenced US journalist Evan Gershkovich for 16 years on espionage charges, also rejected as baseless - but the details were not made public until Monday.
On 12 December 2023, Kurmasheva, an editor with the Tatar-Bashkir service of RFE/RL, was charged with "disseminating false information about the Russian armed forces". This charge stems from her alleged involvement in the distribution of a book based on stories of residents in the Volga region who oppose the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. The book was published by RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir service in November 2022.
Alsu Kurmasheva, a dual United States and Russian citizen who lives in Prague, travelled to Kazan for a family emergency on 20 May 2023 and was temporarily detained at the airport on 2 June before her return. The authorities confiscated both her passports and fined her for failure to register her United States passport with the Russian authorities. Kurmasheva has not been able to leave the country since then.
On 18 October 2023, she was detained by Kazan Authorities on charges of ‘failing to register herself as a foreign agent’ in her capacity as a person collecting information on Russian military activities that “could be used against the security of the Russian Federation". The IFJ and EFJ strongly condemn the detention of an innocent journalist and demand that Russian authorities release her immediately.
Russia often holds trials behind closed doors, but issuing a verdict and sentencing in such a manner is extremely unorthodox.
Gershkovich was also convicted in a fast-track trial after spending more than a year in prison. The speed of the process raised hopes among allies that Washington and Moscow could be close to agreeing a prisoner exchange, as the Kremlin has previously said it will only enter such a deal after a conviction.
Washington and Moscow have both said negotiations for Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, are ongoing, though the fate of Kurmasheva, as a dual US-Russian citizen, has been less clear.
"Russian justice has reached a new level," reacted Andrei Jvirblis, International Secretary of the Journalists’ and Media Workers’ Union (JMWU). "We just witnessed the secret trial of Evan Gershkovich, and now we're witnessing another secret verdict whose existence is revealed by a court spokeswoman. Such a thing was not possible even in the Soviet Union, after the Stalinist era."
The IFJ and EFJ call on the Russian authorities to immediately release Alsu Kurmasheva, Evan Gershkovich and the 58 other journalists imprisoned in Russia and occupied Ukraine.