AFPC-USA Issues Statement Lauding Successful Efforts to Free Gershkovich, Kurmasheva, Others
On Thursday, August 1, the Association of Foreign Correspondents in the United States (AFPC-USA) released an official statement praising the Biden administration and all parties who pulled off the successful prisoner swap that resulted in the release of journalists Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal and Alsu Kurmasheva of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, in addition to other political prisoners.
AFPC-USA earlier issued a shorter statement that you can read here responding immediately to the news of the swap.
The complete statement is as follows:
The Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the USA applauds the Biden-Harris administration’s prisoner swap announced on Thursday bringing the safe return of American journalists and other U.S. citizens wrongfully detained in Russia. The AFPC-USA has worked tirelessly with other press freedom advocates for the return of American journalists Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal and Alsu Kurmasheva of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. President Biden's negotiations for their safe return have been long, complex and fraught, but their release from the Kremlin’s jails underscores the importance of the commitment by the U.S. government and members of Congress and the Senate to stand up for the human rights of free expression and press freedom around the world.
The AFPC-USA also welcomes the safe return of American citizen Paul Whelan and permanent U.S. resident and Russian opposition leader and journalist Vladimir Kara Murza, also unjustly jailed, as part of a prisoner swap that led to the release of 16 people from Russia, including five Germans and seven Russian citizens who were political prisoners in their own country.
Despite this admirable diplomacy, other Americans remain wrongfully detained in Russian prisons and around the world, the AFPC-USA urges the administration and members of the Senate and Congress to keep the pressure high on Russian despot Vladimir Putin to free other Americans still imprisoned, including Marc Fogel and Ksenia Khavana.
The AFPC-USA commends those press freedom groups and foreign correspondents from around the world who worked hard and tirelessly to keep public pressure on the U.S. to press for their diplomatic effort to free these wrongfully imprisoned individuals and return them to their families!
Our thanks and heartfelt gratitude also go to President Biden and his team; Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire; their counterparts advocating in the House for freeing those who were used as trading pawns for Russian terrorists held around the world.
“Russia’s wrongful detention of these innocent people—and Putin’s continued, relentless desire to destroy freedom of speech and press and imprison journalists—has been a gross miscarriage of justice,” Durbin and Shaheen said in a joint statement.
We agree wholeheartedly. The AFPC-USA also emphasizes the work of U.S. allies in helping negotiate the prisoner exchange – including Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey. Without the help of U.S. allies, Americans are less safe in the world and the importance of alliances cannot be overstated in a global era.
Biden has kept his promise to free American journalists and hostages wrongfully detained. We are delighted these cherished colleagues can now return to their families. But we will continue to call on the U.S. government and others to help champion press freedom, pursue those targeting journalists to silence the truth, and to free others still wrongfully detained by malign acting governments around the world. To their families, we want to echo President Biden’s words today: “We see you. We are with you. And we will never stop working to bring your loved ones home where they belong.”
