Russian-American Journalist Convicted in Russia for Spreading False Information
A court in Kazan, Russia, has convicted Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist working for the US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL), of spreading false information about the Russian army. She has been sentenced to 6½ years in prison following a secret trial. This verdict came on the same day that another journalist, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, was convicted of espionage in Yekaterinburg and sentenced to 16 years in prison in a case deemed politically motivated by the US. Kurmasheva, a 47-year-old editor for RFERL's Tatar-Bashkir service, was charged with spreading false information about the military under legislation cracking down on public expression deviating from the Kremlin's official narrative on the war in Ukraine. Despite holding US and Russian citizenship and residing in Prague with her family, Kurmasheva was detained in Russia in October 2023 for failing to register as a foreign agent and subsequently charged with disseminating false information. RFERL's President and CEO denounced the trial's outcome as a mockery of justice, calling for Kurmasheva's immediate release. The organization has been at odds with Russian authorities since 2017 when they were asked to register as a foreign agent. RFERL has challenged Moscow's foreign agent laws in the European Court of Human Rights and faced significant fines in Russia, culminating in its prohibition in the country earlier this year. The arrest of Americans in Russia has become more frequent amid escalating tensions between the two nations over the conflict in Ukraine. The abrupt and opaque legal proceedings of Kurmasheva and Gershkovich have raised speculations about a potential prisoner exchange between Moscow and Washington.
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