A Russian court sentenced journalist Alsu Kurmasheva to six and a half years in prison on charges of disseminating “false information” about the Russian Armed Forces, judicial sources told the country’s news agencies on Monday (22).
The journalist, who holds dual American and Russian citizenship, was arrested in October. According to Radio Free Europe, for which Alsu Kurmasheva works, the journalist was detained in Kazan on charges of failing to register as a “foreign agent.”
Radio Free Europe, a US government-funded news agency, reported that Kurmasheva is based in Prague, Czech Republic, and had traveled to Russia due to a family emergency in May last year.
The journalist had already been temporarily detained while waiting for her return flight on June 2, 2023 at Kazan airport. At the terminal, her American and Russian passports were confiscated and she was unable to leave the country.
Kurmasheva was initially fined for failing to register her US passport with Russian authorities and was awaiting the return of her documents when she was arrested again.
She was then subjected to criminal proceedings, accused of failing to register as a “foreign agent” with the Ministry of Justice and of “knowingly disseminating false information” about the Russian military.
When Kurmasheva was arrested last year, Amnesty International said her detention was “an example of the relentless crackdown on journalism and the right to freedom of expression in Russia”.
It was the second conviction of an American journalist in the country in less than a week. On Friday (19), the Russian court sentenced Evan Gershkovich, from the Wall Street Journal, who has been detained in Russia since March 2023, to 16 years in prison on espionage charges. (With EFE Agency)
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