The IPI global network today condemns the 6.5-year prison sentence handed to Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist who has been under arrest in Russia since October 2023.
In a verdict on Friday, the Supreme Court of the Russian region of Tatarstan of disseminating 鈥渇ake news鈥� about the war in Ukraine, according to the court verdict. The ruling was only made public on Monday.
Prior to her arrest, Kurmasheva worked for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), an independent media corporation based in Prague which is financed by the U.S. Congress. At RFE/RL, Kurmasheva was an editor at the outlet鈥檚, which provides independent news to Russia鈥檚 Tatar and Bashkir ethnic minorities. These live mostly in Kurmasheva鈥檚 home region of Tatarstan and in neighboring Bashkortostan, which is also part of Russia.
In its verdict, the Supreme Court of Tatarstan found that the journalist had violated article 207.3 of Russia鈥檚 criminal code, which foresees up to 15 years of prison for publishing information on the war in Ukraine not confirmed by Russian authorities.
Russian prosecutors formulated the 鈥渇ake news鈥� accusation several months after Kurmasheva was arrested. The journalist, who said that she had come to her hometown of Kazan (the capital of Tatarstan) last year due to urgent family issues, was initially detained for failing to register as a 鈥渇oreign agent鈥�.
Kurmasheva was later with disseminating 鈥渇ake news鈥� for her role in the edition of a book published by RFE/RL on Russians who opposed the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As authorities have to date not confirmed any of the incidents in which Russia is known to have bombed civilian targets in Ukraine, Russian authorities considered the mentions of these attacks in the RFE/RL book to be illegal 鈥渇ake news鈥�.
As for the earlier charges of not registering as a 鈥渇oreign agent鈥�, these likely stem from Kurmasheva鈥檚 work with RFE/RL. The journalist鈥檚 case was unprecedented, as she was the for not voluntarily registering. While Russia regularly registers 鈥渇oreign agents鈥� on unclear grounds such as receiving funding (of any amount) from abroad, criticizing the war in Ukraine, or simply for 鈥渂eing under foreign influence鈥�, authorities do not typically bring formal charges against those who have not registered.
鈥淎ll the stages of Alsu Kurmasheva鈥檚 case have set further negative precedents in Russia鈥檚 practice of violating journalists鈥� rights and restricting their ability to do their job,鈥� said IPI Interim Director Scott Griffen. 鈥淜urmasheva has done nothing wrong by working with RFE/RL and by contributing to independent reporting on the war in Ukraine. It is alarming that Russian authorities yet again weaponized 鈥渇ake news鈥� charges against a reporter, and all the more so as this was done cynically, targeting someone who travelled to their hometown for urgent family reasons. IPI firmly condemns this sham trial and Kurmasheva鈥檚 conviction. We call for her immediate release.鈥�
On the same day as the RFE/RL editor was sentenced, a court in the city of Yekaterinburg convicted American reporter Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison on charges of espionage. Gershkovich, who was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), was accused of 鈥渃ollecting information鈥� on a defence industry plant near the city of Yekaterinburg, where he had travelled to for a reporting trip, with Russian authorities claiming that this was done for the profit of the CIA. The journalist, WSJ and American authorities have all vehemently denied these charges.
As of July 2024, no fewer than 20 journalists are being held in Russian prisons, according to IPI monitoring, with six of them convicted or standing trial on accusations related to their reporting on Russia鈥檚 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.