(RepublicanView.org) – A dual Russian-American citizen has been sentenced to prison for more than six years in Russia for spreading false information about the country’s military. Alsu Kurmasheva was jailed on the same day that a court in Yekaterinburg convicted US journalist Evan Gershkovich of espionage and sent him to prison for 16 years.
Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was detained in March following an arrest that US officials said was politically motivated. Alsu Kurmasheva is also a journalist who works for the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty group (RFE/RL), which is partly funded by the US government.
A spokesperson for the Supreme Court of Tatarstan confirmed Kurmasheva’s conviction, which occurred after a secret trial for which no explanation or detail is publicized. Stephen Capus, CEO of RFE/RL, called the jail sentence “a mockery of justice” and called for her immediate release.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters that “journalism is not a crime” and that the US government had pushed for her release. Likewise, the Reporters Without Borders organization said she was arrested for her work and created a petition for her release.
RFE/RL previously went to war with Moscow and challenged its foreign agent laws in the European Court of Human Rights. Russian authorities require media groups to register as foreign agents, which critics say is a control exercise. In February, authorities outlawed RFE/RL, having already issued millions of dollars in fines.
Elsewhere in Russia, on July 19, Gershkovich started a 16-year prison term. Mr. Evan Gershkovich is the first US journalist to be jailed in Russia since 1986, and analysts suggest Moscow intends to use him and other American prisoners as bargaining chips with the US government. His trial took place behind closed doors, but the press service said he did not admit guilt in court. The 32-year-old was arrested while reporting from the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg and accused of spying for American authorities.
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