A Russian court has sentenced Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist working for U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), to six and a half years in prison for disseminating false information about the Russian military, Reuters reports.
The court in the southern city of Kazan revealed that Kurmasheva received her sentence on Friday after two days of court proceedings.
Her lawyer has reportedly not yet responded to inquiries regarding a potential appeal, and the U.S. embassy has also not provided a comment.
On the same day, a separate court in Yekaterinburg sentenced Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, to 16 years in prison for espionage. Gershkovich’s trial, which lasted three days and was held behind closed doors, has been condemned by his newspaper and the U.S. government as a sham, with Washington actively working to secure his release.
Stephen Capus, President and CEO of RFE/RL, criticized Kurmasheva’s trial and conviction, describing it as “a mockery of justice.” In a statement, Capus demanded her immediate release, emphasizing that she should be reunited with her family.
Kurmasheva, 47, who is based in Prague, was detained on October 18 while visiting family in Tatarstan, Russia.
She had previously been briefly detained last year while attempting to leave Russia, at which time her passports were confiscated. Initially, she was fined for not declaring her U.S. passport, a requirement under Russian law. A week later, she was charged with failing to register as a “foreign agent,” a charge to which she pleaded not guilty.
Her husband, Pavel Butorin, who is also employed by RFE/RL, expressed his distress on social media, stating that he and their daughters are confident in Kurmasheva’s innocence and are urging for her return. He linked her arrest to her editorial work on a book titled “Saying No to War. 40 Stories of Russians Who Oppose the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.”
Kurmasheva and Gershkovich are among several Americans who have been convicted and imprisoned in Russia amid deteriorating relations between Moscow and the West, the worst since the Cold War era.
RFE/RL, funded by the U.S. Congress, has been broadcasting news about Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union since the Cold War. Russia has labeled RFE/RL as a “foreign agent” and an “undesirable” organization, terms that carry negative connotations and essentially ban it from operating within Russia.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the country has enacted stringent laws imposing lengthy prison sentences on individuals found guilty of criticizing the war, particularly under statutes prohibiting the spread of false information about the military.
Butorin has appealed to the U.S. government to classify Kurmasheva as wrongfully detained, similar to the designation given to Gershkovich, to enhance diplomatic efforts for her release. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller has not commented on whether the department will designate Kurmasheva as wrongfully detained but reiterated Washington’s call for her release.
Miller emphasized that Kurmasheva is a dedicated journalist targeted by Russian authorities for her steadfast commitment to truthful and principled reporting.
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