Alsu Kurmasheva, Russian-American journalist from “Radio Free Europe”, arrested in Russia

After Evan Gershkovich, a second American journalist arrested in Russia. Alsu Kurmasheva was arrested in Kazan, her employer Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) announced on Wednesday October 18. Russian-American reporter charged with not declaring herself “as a foreign agent”, specifies this private media financed by the American Congress in a press release. A charge for which she faces up to five years in prison.

The journalist, who lives in Prague with her husband and children, had to go to Russia for a “family emergency” on May 20. Her American and Russian passports confiscated, she found herself unable to leave Russia, before her indictment was finally announced.

The authorities accuse the journalist of having “deliberately conducted a collection of military information on Russian activities via the Internet in order to transmit this information to foreign sources” in September 2022 as well as having “carried out information campaigns discrediting Russia”specifiesofficial press agency Tatar-Inform.

Calls for his “immediate” release

In a statement, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that Alsu Kurmasheva was in a temporary detention center on Wednesday evening, according to information from Tatar-Inform. CPJ calls on Russia to “release immediately” the journalist and “drop all charges” against him. “Journalism is not a crime, and Kurmasheva’s detention is further proof of Russia’s determination to stifle independent journalism”declares the organization.

According to her employer, Alsu Kurmasheva “is a seasoned journalist who has long covered the ethnic minorities of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, in the Volga and Ural region of Russia.” “She must be released so she can return to her family immediately”added the interim president of RFE/RL, Jeffrey Gedmin.