Russian court extends detention of American journalist
A Russian court on Friday extended the detention of an editor of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a US government-funded broadcaster, who was arrested in October on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent.
A district court in Kazan, about 500 miles east of Moscow, ordered the editor, Alsu Kurmasheva, who has dual Russian and U.S. citizenship, to remain in custody until Feb. 5 pending her trial, Russian news agencies reported. Rim Sabirov, Ms Kurmasheva’s lawyer, said he would appeal the ruling. according to to the Russian news agency Interfax.
Ms Kurmasheva is the second journalist with US citizenship to be detained by Russia this year. In March, Russian special services arrested Evan Gershkovich, a Russian correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, on charges of espionage, which he and the Journal have denied. He remains in a maximum security prison in Moscow awaiting trial.
The arrests of the two journalists and other previous detentions of Americans in Russia have raised suspicions that the Kremlin now views American citizens on its soil as assets to be exchanged for valuable Russians held in custody in the West.
In December 2022, American basketball star Brittney Griner was released after nearly ten months in captivity in Russia on drug charges in a prisoner swap for Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms dealer. A possible trade for Mr. Gershkovich has also reportedly been discussed.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Ms Kurmasheva’s relatives belittled her arrest and called for her immediate release. On Thursday, Memorial, a Russian rights group, assigned Mrs. Kurmasheva as a political prisoner.
If convicted, Ms. Kurmasheva could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.
Under Russian law, individuals and organizations that receive funding from abroad and engage in loosely defined political activities must register as foreign agents or face prosecution. The 2012 law has been criticized by rights groups as a political tool to suppress dissent and stigmatize perceived critics of the Kremlin.
Speaking about the decision to extend her detention, Ms Kurmasheva’s husband, Pavel Butorin, said his wife was not a criminal.
“The ‘foreign agent’ allegations against her are absurd and clearly politically motivated,” Mr Butorin said said in a post on the social network X. “She shouldn’t be in jail.”
Mr. Butorin called on the U.S. government to designate Ms. Kurmasheva as “wrongfully detained,” a status that would require U.S. government agencies to work intensively to secure her release.
Before her arrest in Russia, Ms. Kurmasheva lived in Prague with her husband and two children, the radio network said. She came to Kazan, her hometown, in May to visit her sick mother, Mr. Butorin told the Committee to Protect Journalists. in an interview.
US diplomats have requested consular access to Ms Kurmasheva. Speaking about the issue last week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei A. Ryabkov told state news agency Tass that Ms. Kurmasheva’s situation was different of other Americans in Russian custody because they held Russian citizenship.
The decision to extend Ms. Kurmasheva’s detention came as Aleksei A. Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader, said investigators had informed him of new charges against him.
Mr Navalny, who is serving a long term in a Russian penal colony, said in a message on X Friday that he had received a letter informing him that he had been charged under the second part of Article 214 of Russia’s criminal law, which concerns vandalism committed in a group of people.
“I have no idea what Article 214 is, and I can’t find it anywhere. You will know before I do,” Mr. Navalny said.
“They really start a new criminal case against me every three months,” he said. “Rarely does a prisoner, locked in a solitary cell for more than a year, have such a vibrant social and political existence.”