NewsBite

Russian court extends Radio Free Europe reporter’s detention

Alsu Kurmasheva, the second American journalist detained in Russia last year, will be held at least until June 5.

Alsu Kurmasheva attends a court hearing in Kazan on Monday. Picture: AFP
Alsu Kurmasheva attends a court hearing in Kazan on Monday. Picture: AFP

A Russian court extended the pre-trial detention of a radio journalist, one of a growing number of US citizens detained in Russia as relations between Moscow and Washington plummet to their lowest since the Cold War.

A judge in Kazan, a city in southwest Russia, said Alsu ­Kurmasheva, who holds both US and Russian citizenship, would be held until June 5.

Kurmasheva, an editor for the Prague-based Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty, was detained last year in Kazan while visiting her ailing mother. She was initially held on an allegation that she had failed to register as a foreign agent, a designation Russian authorities have extended to hundreds of ­organi­sations and individuals, often as a way of discrediting them and highlighting their links abroad.

The 47-year-old Kurmasheva, who has two daughters, has also been charged with disseminating false information about the Russian military in relation to a book she helped edit that criticises the invasion of Ukraine.

If convicted of all charges, she could serve a prison sentence of 15 years, her employer said.

“Alsu’s imprisonment is as outrageous today as it was six months ago,” said RFE/RL president and chief executive Stephen Capus. “She’s already missed too many birthdays and holidays with her husband and daughters simply because she holds an American passport and went to visit her sick mother.”

Russia extends pre-trial detention of US journalist

Kurmasheva told Russian ­reporters on Monday that she was “not very well physically”, adding that her living conditions in prison were poor and that she was­ ­receiving minimal medical care.

She was the second US journalist to be detained in Russia last year. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, 32, who has been in detention for more than a year, was detained on a reporting trip in the Ural region city of Yekaterinburg last March. He is being held on an allegation of espionage that he, the Journal and the US government vehemently deny.

Last week a court extended Gershkovich’s pre-trial confinement to June 30. The US government deems him wrongfully detained and President Joe Biden has said he is working for the ­release of Gershkovich, Kurmasheva and Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive serving 16 years in a Russian penal colony on espionage charges he denies.

Kurmasheva travelled to Russia on May 20. Authorities confiscated her US and Russian passports when she was waiting for a flight out of the country on June 2. She was fined for failing to register her US passport in Russia.

Failure to register as a foreign agent alone could carry a five-year sentence. Russian law requires that individuals and organisations receiving funding from abroad and those deemed to be engaged in certain activities, such as gathering and distributing information about the Russian military, register as foreign agents.

Russian authorities have used the foreign-agent law against perceived government critics who ­receive funding from abroad.

RFE/RL receives funding from the US government.

The Tatar-Bashkir language service, for which Kurmasheva is an editor, and eight other branches, were designated as foreign agents in 2017, according to RFE/RL.

The book Kurmasheva helped edit was about Russians opposed to the war. Under legislation passed since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, almost any criticism of the conflict can be considered a crime.

The Wall Street Journal

Add your comment to this story

To join the conversation, please Don't have an account? Register

Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/the-wall-street-journal/russian-court-extends-radio-free-europe-reporters-detention/news-story/43b425c843dc134003153b6feb907640