The Russian American is accused of not being registered as a “international agent” and of spreading “false info”.
A Russian court docket has prolonged journalist Alsu Kurmasheva's pretrial detention till June 5, his employer Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) says.
The Prague writer, 47, was arrested final 12 months within the southwestern Russian metropolis of Kazan for failing to register as a “international agent” and for spreading “false info” below the censorship legal guidelines enacted after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Showing in Kazan court docket on Monday, Kurmasheva smiled and complained in regards to the poor state of the cell the place she was being held, an Agence France-Presse reporter mentioned.
Kurmasheva, who holds each American and Russian passports, entered Russia in Could to cope with a household emergency. She was initially arrested on June 2 at an airport whereas ready for her return flight, and her passports have been confiscated.
In accordance with court docket paperwork, in October she was fined 10,000 rubles ($108) for failing to register her American passport with Russian authorities.
Funded by the US Congress, its employer, RFE/RL, is designated by Russia as a international agent, a cost leveled on the premise that it receives international funding for actions deemed political.
In 2022, he printed a ebook entitled Saying No to Warfare, a set of interviews and tales from Russians against Moscow's marketing campaign in opposition to Ukraine.
In December, state-affiliated media reported that the ebook led to Russian investigators opening a brand new case in opposition to Kurmasheva, accusing her of spreading false details about the Russian navy.
The cost of failing to register as a international agent carries as much as 5 years in jail whereas spreading false info carries a most sentence of 15 years.
“Unfounded” expenses.
RFE/RL described her imprisonment as “scandalous” and mentioned she was locked up “just because she holds an American passport.”
“The accusations in opposition to Alsou are unfounded. This isn’t a authorized course of. It’s a political ploy, and Alsou and his household are unjustifiably paying a horrible worth,” mentioned RFE/RL's Stephen Capus on Monday. RL.
“Russia should finish this farce and instantly launch Alsu with out situation,” he added.
Rights teams have accused Russia of utilizing oppressive laws to focus on Kremlin critics and unbiased journalists.
Kurmasheva is the second American journalist arrested in Russia because the starting of Moscow's warfare in Ukraine.
Wall Avenue Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich spent greater than a 12 months in jail in Moscow on espionage expenses that carry a most sentence of 20 years in jail.
He denied the fees.
Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, an American convicted of espionage in 2020 and imprisoned in Russia for 16 years, have been designated by the US authorities as “unjustly detained”.
The designation implies that Washington considers the fees in opposition to them false and is dedicated to working for his or her launch.
The US State Division mentioned final 12 months that Kurmasheva's arrest “seems to be one other case of the Russian authorities harassing Americans”, and her supporters have pressed Washington for the standing of ” unjustly detained” for her too.
