This content was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
A Russian judge has sentenced Alsu Kurmasheva, a former RFE/RL columnist who holds two U. S. Russian citizen, to 6 1/2 years in prison on costs she, her company, the U. S. state, and her supporters , reject , as politically motivated.
Kurmasheva was found guilty by the court on a cost of fabricating information about the Russian government.
The Associated Press first reported the news, and the AP cited court records and officials as proving that the judgment was delivered on July 19 following a key trial by the Kazan court.
The trial and conviction were described as” a mockery of justice,” according to RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus, adding that Alsu’s only only choice would be for her Russian prisoners to be immediately released from jail.
” It’s beyond time for this American citizen, our dear colleague, to be reunited with her loving home”, Capus said in a statement.
Kurmasheva, 47, was arrested in Kazan in October and initially charged with failing to register as a “foreign broker” under a punitive Russian laws that targets editors, civil society activists, and others.
The accusations are alleged to be violence for RFE/RL and the United States government, who represent the journalist in Prague.
According to U.S. State Department official Matthew Miller,” She’s a dedicated blogger who is being targeted by Russian regulators for her unwavering dedication to speaking the truth and her ethical reporting,” she’s a devoted blogger who is subject of a “hero’s investigation.”
” Media is not a crime, as you have heard us say on a number of times, and we continue to make pretty obvious that she should be released”, he said.
A court in Yekaterinberg found Wall Street Journal writer Evan Gershkovich innocent of espionage charges the same day he was found guilty by his company and the U.S. government for allegedly being politically motivated.
Because of his journalistic background and Americanness, Gershkovich was reportedly targeted by the Russian authorities in a White House statement from July 19.
Unlike Gershkovich and another American, Paul Whelan, who is serving a 16-year phrase likewise on spy costs, Kurmasheva has not been designated by the U. S. authorities as “wrongfully detained”.
A case being assigned to the office of the special envoy for prisoner affairs at the U.S. State Department ensures that the situation is handled, raising the political account of the hostage situation, and enabling the U.S. administration to spend more time ensuring their launch.
The U. S. National Press Club — a professional association of American reporters— and 18 different media freedom groups called on President Joe Biden in an , available letter , on May 31 to push for the identification of Kurmasheva as a “wrongfully detained” people.
” She meets all the criteria. This should happen immediately. It should have happened months ago”, the letter said.
We have heard the State Department explain how there are other factors to be taken into account besides the criteria, but it has not yet been given a clear justification for why State cannot hold her accountable for wrongdoing.
Miller merely stated that the Biden administrations continue to be focused on her case when she did not speak with reporters about Kurmasheva’s designation.
Andrey Kuznechyk, Ihar Losik, and Vladyslav Yesypenko are the other three RFE/RL journalists currently imprisoned on suspicion of working for them. Kurmasheva is one of them. RFE/RL and other rights organizations have repeatedly demanded the release of all four, alleging that they were unlawfully detained.
Losik, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison and served as a blogger and contributor for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, was found guilty in December 2021 on several counts, including “organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order.”
Kuznechyk, a web editor for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, was sentenced in June 2022 to six years in prison following a trial that lasted no more than a few hours. He was found guilty of” creating or participating in an extremist organization.”
Yesypenko, a dual Ukrainian-Russian citizen who contributed to Crimea. Realities, a regional news outlet of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, was sentenced in February 2022 to six years in prison by a Russian judge in occupied Crimea after a closed-door trial. He was convicted of “possession and transport of explosives”, a charge he steadfastly denies.
