A Russian court on Monday ordered a detained Russian-American journalist to be held for another two months pending investigation and trial, as part of a further Kremlin crackdown on opposition and free speech.
Ars Kurmasheva, editor of the Tatar-Bashkir language service of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was detained on October 18 and registered as a foreign agent while gathering intelligence on the Russian military. He was charged with failing to do so. She was later charged with spreading “false information” about the Russian military.
A Tatarstan court on Monday ordered her to be detained until at least June 5.
He is the second American journalist to be detained in Russia this year, after Evan Gershkovitch.
According to RFE/RL, Kurmaseva, who has U.S. and Russian citizenship and lives in Prague with her husband and two daughters, could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted. It is said that there is.
Ars Kurmasheva, the Russian-American editor of the Tatar-Bashkir language broadcast of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, after a court hearing in Kazan, Russia, on April 1. He was ordered to be detained until June 5. (AP photo)
She told reporters in court Monday that she was “not feeling very well” and that some of her medical conditions worsened while in custody. “Her living conditions are very poor and there is no way to manage her health,” she said, adding that her medical assistance in custody is “minimal.”
After President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022, Russian authorities used a law that effectively criminalizes any public expressions about the conflict that deviate from Kremlin policy to target Kremlin critics and independents. The crackdown on journalists is being strengthened.
Kurmaseva was the second American journalist to be detained in Russia last year, following Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich’s arrest on spying charges in March. Mr. Gershkovic and his employer deny the charges, and U.S. authorities have designated Mr. Gershkovic as unlawfully detained. He was detained for a year.
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Kurumasheva was first stopped at Kazan International Airport on June 2, after traveling to Russia last month to visit her elderly mother. Authorities confiscated her US and Russian passports and fined her for not registering her US passport. She was waiting for her passport to be returned when she was arrested on new charges in October. RFE/RL called for her release.
RFE/RL was instructed by Russian authorities to register as a foreign agent in 2017, but it challenged Moscow’s application of the Foreign Agents Act at the European Court of Human Rights. The organization has been fined millions of dollars by Russia.
