The EU called for the release of Radio Liberty journalist Alsa Kurmasheva

The head of the EU foreign policy department, Josep Borrell, called on the Russian authorities to immediately release Radio Liberty journalist Alsa Kurmasheva.

“The EU calls on the Russian authorities to immediately release the journalist Alsa Kurmasheva, who faces up to 15 years in prison for her journalistic activities. The Russian authorities must ensure the safety of journalists and their right to freedom of speech, as well as stop their persecution,” Borrell wrote on X social networks.

Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir service journalist Alsou Kurmasheva has been in pretrial detention 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.

On December 12, it became known that another criminal case was opened against Kurmasheva – on the article about fakes about the Russian army. The reason for the initiation of the case was the book “There is no war. 40 historical Russians opposing the invasion of Ukraine”, published by the Tatar-Bashkir service of Radio Liberty in November last year. The book includes stories of residents of the Volga region. The collection was prepared on the basis of interviews that appeared on the “Idel.Realii” website from March to August 2022. According to the investigation, Alsu Kurmasheva is involved in the distribution of the book.

This is already the third criminal case against Kurmasheva. In October, a court in Kazan found her guilty of not notifying her of her second citizenship and sentenced her to a fine of ten thousand rubles.

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 mid-May 2023, 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 Kurmasheva was taken into custody, the acting president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Geoffrey Gedmin said that he was “deeply disappointed” by the court’s decision: “We call for the immediate release of Alsa so that she can be reunited with her family.”
• The detention of the journalist 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 release Kurmasheva.