FLASH
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Alsu Kurmasheva receives letters in prison from family, friends, colleagues and strangers, but sometimes weeks pass before they reach her in the cell where she is being held in the Russian city of Kazan.
On January 13, the Radio Free Europe journalist wrote that she has received a large package of letters, after a long wait during the winter holidays.
"It was very difficult for me without them," she wrote. "To be honest, this whole [situation] is becoming unbearable." January 25 marks 100 days since Kurmasheva was arrested in October, and she has been in custody since then. "Even one more day behind bars unjustly is a tragedy", said the acting president of Radio Free Europe, Stephen Capus. "But the unjust detention of an American citizen in a prison for 100 days is unacceptable," he said.
Kurmasheva was initially charged with failing to notify the Russian government to register her as a "foreign agent" and, two months later, charged with disseminating disinformation about the Russian military. Russian law provides for a maximum sentence of five years in prison for those found guilty on the charge of failing to register as "foreign agents", while on the second charge a person can be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. Kurmasheva and Radio Free Europe deny the allegations and say Moscow is punishing her for her work as a journalist. Kurmasheva, who has American and Russian citizenship, has not been allowed consular contact in prison. Russia has refused three US requests to visit him in custody. "Russia must release him unconditionally and immediately," Capus said. "We hope that the US State Department will quickly describe Alsuna as 'unjustly imprisoned'".
While this has not happened, DASH spokesman Matthew Miller said on January 18 that the United States is paying "extremely high attention" to Kurmasheva's case. "The fact that we have not made a setting for 'unjust imprisonment' is no indication of the work we are doing or of our possible future position," Miller added. "We are constantly gathering information in these cases, we are examining the facts, the laws... in order to reach a fair decision", he said. In a related case, US citizen Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, was arrested in Russia on March 29, 2023, on suspicion of espionage – marking the first time a journalist working for a US media outlet has been arrested on such accusations in Russia since the Cold War.
He was formally charged on April 7. The US State Department called Gershkovich "unjustly arrested" on April 10, while the US ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracey, met with him in prison for the first time on April 17. Gershkovich, one of the few foreign journalists who had continued to work inside Russia after Moscow launched its sweeping invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, remains in custody amid speculation the Kremlin wants to negotiate a prisoner swap. "I am sure that the real reason why Alsu is in custody is the fact that she is an American citizen," said Pavel Butorin, Kurmasheva's husband and director of Current Time, a Russian-language network led by Radio Free Europe. in collaboration with the Voice of America.
Western governments and Russian and international human rights groups have criticized Kurmasheva's imprisonment. The Committee to Protect Journalists, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and other organizations have called for her release. The National Press Club, in Washington, has placed her portrait in its lobby, and has called on DASH to immediately label her "unjustly imprisoned." The human rights group Memorial, which has been banned in Russia, has described him as a political prisoner. In December, the European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, called for her "immediate release" and ordered Russia to "guarantee the safety of journalists... and stop their persecution."
The UK-based group Rights in Russia has organized a letter-writing mechanism to send to Kurmasheva and others widely considered political prisoners. "One hundred days - it is unacceptable", said the acting president of REL, Capus. "And, unfortunately, we're not seeing a quick end to this. Therefore, we think that everything should be done"./REL
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