The arrest of journalist Alsa Kurmasheva was extended until February 4

On December 1, the court in Kazan extended the arrest of Alsa Kurmasheva, a journalist of the Tatar-Bashkir Service of Radio Liberty, until February 4, 2024.

The judge granted the request of the investigator. Kurmashev has been in pre-trial detention center since the end of October on charges of violating the law on so-called foreign agents. The investigation considers that the journalist should have provided the documents herself to include her in the register of agents. This is the first criminal case under this article in Russia, which was initiated against a journalist. Kurmasheva does not admit guilt.

Human rights activists call on the Russian authorities to end the criminal prosecution of the journalist, and to release her. The human rights project “Support of Political Prisoners. Memorial” recognized Kurmasheva as a political prisoner.

Kurmasheva has dual citizenship: USA and Russia. Before her arrest, she lived in Prague with her husband and children. In the middle of May, the journalist came to Kazan for family reasons. In June, before her flight home, the journalist was detained and both her passports were confiscated. Later, they opened a criminal case against her for not notifying her of her second citizenship and took a signature not to leave. The court found her guilty only in October, imposed a fine of ten thousand rubles. Soon, Kurmasheva was arrested on the second criminal case – about foreign agents.

• After Alsu’s detention, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Acting President Geoffrey Gedmin said he was “deeply disappointed” by the court’s decision: “We call for the immediate release of Alsu so that she can be reunited with her family.”
• Also’s detention was condemned by the US authorities and the government Canada, the Czech RepublicFrance, of Poland and Swedenas well as The Supreme Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policychapter of the European Parliament, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on issues of media freedom and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The platform of the Council of Europe to promote the protection of journalism and the safety of journalists published a call to free Alsa.
• The human rights organization Reporters Without Borders, the Coalition of Women in Journalism, the National Press Club, the Committee for the Protection of Journalists and ten other organizations appealed to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to “speed up the process and immediately declare” journalist Kurmasheva “unlawfully detained.” Recognition of an American citizen as unlawfully detained means that the US authorities will officially seek his release from the authorities of the relevant foreign state.