Russian American is accused of failing to register as a ‘international agent’ and spreading ‘false data’.
A Russian court docket has prolonged the pre-trial detention of journalist Alsu Kurmasheva till June 5, her employer Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) says.
The Prague-based editor, 47, was arrested final yr within the metropolis of Kazan in southwest Russia for failing to register as a “international agent” and for spreading “false data” below censorship legal guidelines enacted after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Showing in court docket in Kazan on Monday, Kurmasheva smiled and complained concerning the poor state of the cell the place she was being held, an Agence France-Presse reporter stated.
Kurmasheva, who has each US and Russian passports, entered Russia in Might to take care of a household emergency. She was initially detained on June 2 at an airport whereas awaiting her return flight, and her passports had been confiscated.
In accordance with court docket paperwork, she was then fined 10,000 roubles ($108) in October for failing to register her US passport with Russian authorities.
Funded by the US Congress, her employer, RFE/RL, is designated by Russia as a international agent, a cost levelled on the premise that it receives international funding for exercise deemed to be political.
In 2022, she edited a guide titled Saying No to Battle, a set of interviews and tales from Russians against Moscow’s marketing campaign towards Ukraine.
In December, a state-affiliated media outlet reported that the guide led to Russian investigators opening a brand new case towards Kurmasheva, accusing her of spreading false details about the Russian military.
The cost for failing to register as a international agent carries as much as 5 years in jail whereas spreading false data has a most sentence of 15 years.
‘Baseless’ costs
RFE/RL described her imprisonment as “outrageous” and stated she has been locked up “just because she holds an American passport”.
“The fees towards Alsu are baseless. It’s not a authorized course of. It’s a political ploy, and Alsu and her household are unjustifiably paying a horrible worth,” RFE/RL head Stephen Capus stated on Monday.
“Russia should finish this sham and instantly launch Alsu with out situation,” he added.
Rights teams have accused Russia of utilizing oppressive laws to focus on Kremlin critics and impartial journalists.
Kurmasheva is the second US journalist to be arrested in Russia because the begin of Moscow’s struggle in Ukraine.
Wall Avenue Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has spent greater than a yr in jail in Moscow on espionage costs that carry a most sentence of 20 years in jail.
He has denied the costs.
Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, an American convicted of spying in 2020 and jailed in Russia for 16 years, have been designated by the US authorities as “wrongfully detained”.
The designation means Washington considers the costs towards them bogus and is dedicated to working for his or her launch.
The US Division of State stated final yr that Kurmasheva’s arrest “seems to be one other case of the Russian authorities harassing US residents”, and her supporters have been lobbying Washington for the standing of “wrongfully detained” for her as properly.
