In Kazan, the participants of the pickets in defense of mass media were drawn up

In Kazan, Darina Luntsova, the organizer of the December 10 action in defense of journalists, was issued a protocol for “violation of the rules of organizing a public event.” The reason was the mention on the poster of the name of the employee of the Tatar-Bashkir service of Radio Svoboda Alsa Kurmasheva, reports SOTA on Tuesday.

In addition to Luntsova, an administrative protocol was issued against one of the picket participants, Iskander Yasaveev. He was holding a poster “Alsu Kurmasheva is a journalist, not a criminal,” notes Idel.Realii.

On December 10, mass pickets were held in Kazan against pressure on mass media employees. On many posters of the participants of the action, the names of journalists who died in the performance of their professional duties or were persecuted were indicated.

A representative of the local administration and an employee of the Center for Combating Extremism approached the activists and asked the picketers to remove the poster mentioning Kurmasheva. Activists complied with the request, but protocols were still drawn up on them.

Alsou Kurmasheva is in custody due to a case initiated under Part 3 of Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code of Russia (“Failure to submit to an authorized body the documents required for inclusion in the register of foreign agents committed by a person carrying out a targeted collection of information in the field of military, military – technical activities of the Russian Federation, which, when received by foreign sources, may be used against the security of the Russian Federation”). The case was initiated on October 18, 2023. According to the investigation, Kurmasheva herself had to provide documents for her inclusion in the register of “foreign agents”. At the same time, the Ministry of Justice, on its own initiative, did not include the journalist in this register.

This is the first criminal case under this article in Russia, which was initiated against a journalist. Also Kurmasheva does not admit guilt.

On December 11, another criminal case was opened against the journalist – for spreading “fakes” about the Russian army. The investigation believes that she is involved in the distribution of the book “There is no war. 40 Russian historians who oppose the invasion of Ukraine.”

Alsou Kurmasheva is a citizen of the USA and Russia, lives in Prague with her husband and two children. She flew to Russia on May 20 due to an urgent family need, notes “Nastoyastchee vremya”.