A Russian court on Monday extended the pre-trial detention of jailed American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva until June 5, according to media reports.
An editor at VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Kurmasheva was jailed in October 2023. She stands accused of failing to register as a so-called foreign agent and spreading what Moscow views as false information about the Russian army.
Kurmasheva and her employer reject the charges against her. If convicted, she faces a combined sentence of up to 15 years behind bars.
“Alsu’s imprisonment is as outrageous today as it was six months ago,” RFE/RL President Stephen Capus said in a statement in response to the extension of the reporter’s detention.
“The charges against Alsu are baseless. It's not a legal process, it's a political ploy, and Alsu and her family are unjustifiably paying a terrible price. Russia must end this sham and immediately release Alsu without condition,” Capus added.
A dual U.S.-Russian national, Kurmasheva traveled to Russia in May 2023 for a family emergency. Her passports were confiscated when she was trying to leave the country in June 2023, and she was waiting for them to be returned when she was arrested in October 2023.
During Monday’s court appearance, Kurmasheva told reporters she was “not very well physically” and that she is receiving “minimal” medical care. The living conditions in the prison “are very bad,” she said, adding that a hole in the floor of her cell functions as the toilet.
In a Monday post on the social media platform X, Kurmasheva’s husband Pavel Butorin again rejected the charges against her.
“Russia wants Alsu locked up, abandoned, and forgotten. No, that’s not going to happen. We won’t rest until Alsu returns home to her children,” he said in the post.
Kurmasheva is one of two American journalists currently jailed in Russia.
The second is Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who last week marked one year jailed in Russia on espionage charges that are widely viewed as baseless and politically motivated.
Russia's Washington embassy did not immediately reply to VOA's email requesting comment.
Last week, a spokesperson at the U.S. embassy in Moscow told VOA that Russian authorities denied requests by the embassy for consular access to Kurmasheva.
“We are deeply concerned about Alsu Kurmasheva’s detention in Russia,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “We condemn in the strongest possible terms the Kremlin’s continued attempts to intimidate, repress, and punish journalists and civil society voices. Healthy democracies do not undertake such steps.”
“A free and independent press is a vital, core institution that undergirds democracies, ensuring that electorates can make informed decisions and hold governmental officials accountable. In this light, the charges against Ms. Kurmasheva are a sign of the weakness of Putin’s regime,” the spokesperson added.
