The pre-trial detention of Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist arrested in Russia, has been extended
A court in Kazan, Russia, once again extended by two months on Friday the pre-trial detention of Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, arrested in Russia on October 18.
Her detention now runs until February 5, 2024, announced the American media Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) for which Alsu Kurmasheva works. The journalist is accused of breaches linked to her registration in the register of “foreign agents”, while she was engaged in “the intentional collection of information regarding military activities” could be harmful to “security of the Russian Federation”, according to Russian justice. She faces up to five years in prison.
Alsu Kurmasheva, who joined RFE/RL in 1998, works for her service in the Tatar and Bashkir languages, covering these ethnic minorities in Russia inhabiting in particular Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, the Volga and the Ural regions.
The journalist, who lives in Prague with her husband and children, went to Russia for a “family emergency” on May 20, but was unable to leave because his American and Russian passports were confiscated.
According to the website Tatar Inform, she was fined on October 11 for failing to declare her American citizenship to Russian authorities. According to this media, which cites anonymous police sources, she notably worked on the mobilization of teachers by the Russian army for the offensive in Ukraine.
Alsu Kurmasheva is the second American journalist to be detained in Russia, with journalist Evan Gershkovich, still imprisoned, who was arrested for espionage by the Federal Security Service (FSB) during a report in Yekaterinburg on March 29.