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Russian Journalist Alsu Kurmasheva Denied Appeal, Faces Continued Detention
A court in Kazan, the capital of Russia’s Tatarstan region, has rejected an appeal filed by lawyers of Alsu Kurmasheva, a veteran journalist of RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service, against another court’s October decision to fine her 10,000 rubles ($110) for “failure to inform Russian officials about holding a second citizenship.”
The ruling to fine Kurmasheva, who has been in Russian custody since October 18 on a separate case, was officially upheld after the Soviet district court pronounced its decision on December 4.
Kurmasheva, a Prague-based journalist with RFE/RL who holds dual U.S. and Russian citizenships, traveled to Russia for a family emergency in May. While waiting for her return flight on June 2 at the airport in Kazan, both of her passports were confiscated, and she was temporarily detained. As a result, she was not able to leave Russia as she awaited the return of her travel documents.
On October 11, a court ordered Kurmasheva to pay the fine for failing to register her U.S. passport with Russian authorities. She was once again detained on October 18 and charged with failing to register as a foreign agent, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
The Investigative Committee stated that Kurmasheva was charged under a section of the Criminal Code that refers to the registration of foreign agents who engage in “purposeful collection of information in the field of military, military-technical activities of Russia,” which, if received by foreign sources, “can be used against the security of the country.” However, it provided no further details.
Recently, the Soviet district court extended Kurmasheva’s pretrial detention until at least February 5. The Investigative Committee said its investigation found that while the Russian Justice Ministry did not add her to the list of foreign agents, she failed to provide documents to be included on the registry.
Both Kurmasheva and RFE/RL have rejected the charge. Her detention, along with other RFE/RL journalists, has prompted criticism from rights groups and politicians, who argue that the move signals a new level of war-time censorship.
In addition to Kurmasheva, several other RFE/RL journalists currently imprisoned on charges related to their work include Andrey Kuznechyk, Ihar Losik, and Vladyslav Yesypenko. Rights groups and RFE/RL have repeatedly called for their release, stating that they have been wrongly detained.
Losik, a blogger and contributor for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, was convicted in December 2021 on several charges and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Kuznechyk, a web editor for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, was sentenced in June 2022 to six years in prison. Yesypenko, a dual Ukrainian-Russian citizen, was sentenced in February 2022 to six years in prison after a closed-door trial.
Kurmasheva’s ongoing detention has raised concerns that her case may be part of a pattern of detaining Americans to use as bargaining chips for Russians jailed in the United States. These developments have also heightened fears of increased censorship and crackdowns on media freedom in Russia.
