AFPC-USA Denounces Russian Government for Convicting and Sentencing Alsu Kurmasheva
On Tuesday, July 23, 2024, the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States (AFPC-USA) denounced the conviction and sentencing by a Russian court of American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva.
Kurmasheva. who has worked with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Tatar-Bashkir Service for more than two decades, was detained by Russian authorities last October on charges that she'd failed to register as a foreign agent. Last month, the Russian state news agency TASS reported that Kurmasheva would be detained until June 5, a date that has come and gone.
Kurmasheva was the second U.S. journalist detained in Russia last year, following the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on espionage charges in March. Gershkovich and his employer have denied the charges, and U.S. authorities have classified him as wrongfully detained. He has now been in custody for more than a year and was this week convicted, receiving a 16-year prison term. AFPC-USA has also spoken out against the Russian government, saying it “has failed to produce evidence of espionage.”
Last month, AFPC-USA joined 17 press freedom organizations, journalists associations and rights groups to pressure President Joe Biden and the United States government to officially recognize journalist Kurmasheva as “wrongfully detained.” The group, which included such esteemed organizations as Reporters without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), noted that the State Department has yet to provide “a clear reason” why Kurmasheva’s case has not received that designation.
The full statement is as follows:
The Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the USA denounces the outrageous conviction and sentencing by a Russian court of American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, 47, on groundless charges in a secret trial that accused her of "spreading false information about the Russian army." The court in Kazan in Russia’s Tatarstan region convicted her Friday behind closed doors and sentenced her to six and a half years in prison, according to the Associated Press. Kurmasheva has not been allowed to speak with her husband and two young daughters in nine months. The U.S. should immediately declare her “wrongfully detained” and now wrongfully convicted and redouble efforts to force Russia to release her.
A dual U.S. and Russian citizen, Kurmasheva has been in prison since Oct. 18, 2023, when she was unjustly detained on bogus charges during a personal visit to see her elderly, ailing mother in Russia. An editor with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty who is based in Prague, she was not visiting Russia in any professional capacity. Russia has increasingly demonstrated that it is a reckless, lawless and dangerous dictatorship by taking foreign journalists and others as hostages to use as bargaining chips and leverage with the West.
“This secret trial and conviction make a mockery of justice — the only just outcome is for Alsu to be immediately released from prison by her Russian captors. It’s beyond time for this American citizen, our dear colleague, to be reunited with her loving family,” said RFE/RL President & CEO Stephen Capus.
The Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the USA demands Russia release journalists Kurmasheva and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, along with all other American hostages immediately. The Biden administration must work even harder to secure their release. Declaring Kurmasheva wrongfully detained and wrongfully convicted is an important, vital step in that direction.
The world must be reminded of Russia’s despicable hostility to a free press and to freedom of expression. As with other Americans unjustly detained in Russia and other rogue countries, their supporters must continue to raise their voices in a constant drumbeat of public attention to call out these cases in order to help pressure governments to resolve them as quickly, legally and humanely as possible.
