(Moscow) A Russian court on Tuesday rejected the appeal against its detention of Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, accused of failing to register as a “foreign agent”.
Mme Kurmasheva “and her lawyer requested that the measure of restraint be changed from detention to house arrest. The court rejected the appeal,” a representative of the Supreme Court of Tatarstan, a region in central Russia where she was arrested on October 18, told the Interfax news agency.
Alsu Kurmasheva is one of two American journalists to be arrested in Russia this year. The first was the reporter of Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich, arrested in March for “espionage,” an accusation that he and his employer vehemently reject.
Mme Kurmasheva, who works for the US-funded media outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was arrested in Kazan, the capital of the republic of Tatarstan.
The journalist, who usually lives in Prague with her husband and two teenage daughters, had gone to Russia for a “family emergency” on May 20, but was unable to leave because her American and Russian passports prevented her from leaving. had been confiscated.
A Russian court ruled last week to keep her in pre-trial detention until at least December 5 on charges of failing to register as a “foreign agent”, an offense carrying a potential sentence of five years in prison.
His employer requested his immediate release.
Rights groups say his detention marks a new threshold in Russia’s campaign against independent media, which has intensified significantly since Russia’s February 2022 offensive in Ukraine.