The arrest of Radio Liberty journalist Also Kurmasheva has been extended until June 5

On Monday, the Soviet District Court of Kazan extended until June 5 the detention period of Alsa Kurmasheva, a journalist of the Tatar-Bashkir Service of Radio Liberty, in a pre-trial detention center. This is reported by Idel.Realii.

The court granted the request of the investigation. The defense of the journalist insisted on changing the measure of restraint to house arrest, but the court refused it.

After the court session, Alsou Kurmasheva told mass media that she is “not very well physically, the living conditions are very bad.” “I don’t have the opportunity to monitor my health,” the journalist clarified. To a clarifying question, whether they provide her with medical assistance, Alsu Kurmasheva answered: “Minimally.”

Alsa Kurmasheva is charged under two articles of the Criminal Code of Russia: failure to disclose information about herself for inclusion in the register of “foreign agents” and distribution of so-called fakes about the army – she is charged with the distribution of the book “No war. 40 Russian historians opposing the invasion of Ukraine”. which the editorial office of “Idel.Realii” presented in the fall of 2022.

Alsou Kurmasheva has been in pre-trial detention center since October 2023.

The journalist has US and Russian citizenship. Before her arrest, she lived in Prague with her husband and children. In the middle of May last year, she came to her native city of Kazan for a short time due to family circumstances. Before the flight home, she was detained at the airport, a criminal case was opened against her under the article of failure to notify of second citizenship. The investigation of this case dragged on for several months. Only in October, the Magistrate’s Court in Kazan found her guilty and fined her 10,000 rubles.

A week after the announcement of the verdict — on October 18 of last year — the journalist was detained again in the second case and this time sent to pre-trial detention center. A month and a half later — on December 11, 2023 — the investigation opened another criminal case about the distribution of so-called fakes about the army.

After the previous court decision to extend the restraining order, Acting President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Steven Kapus stated that “the Russian authorities are conducting a criminal campaign against the illegally detained Alsa Kurmasheva.” According to Kapus, “the US State Department should officially declare her ‘unlawfully detained’: just as it was done in relation to Evan Hershkovich from the Wall Street Journal, who was immediately listed after his unjust arrest.”

Earlier, the Czech Republic and 22 other countries nominated Alsa Kurmasheva for the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Prize for her contribution to freedom of the press.

• The government condemned the detention of Alsu Canada, the Czech RepublicFrance, of Poland and Swedenas well as The Supreme Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, President 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.
• International human rights and media freedom organizations also condemned the politically motivated detention of Alsa and called for her immediate release. Among them: Amnesty International, Committee to Protect Journalists, Freedom HousePEN-America, Reporters Without Borders, the International Federation of Journalists, etc International Press Institute. The Committee for the Protection of Journalists stated that “Alsu Kurmasheva’s arrest is today the most egregious example of abuse of the Russian legislation on foreign agents against the independent press.”
• The US State Department pays “huge attention” to the case of Alsa Kurmasheva. This was announced by the official representative of the State Department on January 18 Matthew Miller. The foreign policy agency has not yet recognized the journalist as illegally detained – according to Miller, this does not mean that such efforts are not being implemented.
• On November 30, 2023, the project “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial” recognized Alsa Kurmasheva as a political prisoner.