American Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalist Alsu Kurmasheva has been released as part of a large-scale prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia after more than nine months in prison.
Kurmasheva, 47, is a journalist with RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service who was detained in Kazan, Russia, on October 18, 2023. Alsu holds U.S. and Russian citizenship and lives in Prague, Czech Republic.
She travelled to Russia on May 20 for a family emergency. She was temporarily detained on June 2 and arrested again on October 18.
Following a rapid and secret trial, she was convicted of “spreading false information” about Russia’s military on July 19, 2024, and sentenced to six and a half years in prison.
RFE/RL President & CEO Stephen Capus said: “Alsu was targeted because she was an American journalist who was simply trying to take care of a family member inside Russia. She did nothing wrong and certainly did not deserve the unjust treatment and forced separation from her loving family members and colleagues. Alsu’s release makes us even more determined to secure the freedom of three other RFE/RL journalists, cruelly imprisoned in Belarus and Russian-occupied Crimea. Journalism is not a crime.”
Following a rapid and secret trial, Kurmasheva was convicted of “spreading false information” about Russia’s military on July 19, 2024, and sentenced to six and a half years in prison.
Photo:RFE/RL