MOSCOW: A Russian court has sentenced US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva to more than six years in prison for violating strict military censorship laws, a ruling her employer slammed as a “mockery of justice”.

Kurmasheva, 47 was convicted on Friday in a secret trial that was not announced in advance — the same day a separate Russian court sentenced US journalist Evan Gershkovich for 16 years on espionage charges. Both journalists have rejected the charges against them as baseless.

Kurmasheva, an editor with the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) outlet in Prague, was arrested last year while travelling to Russia to see her sick mother.

She had her passports confiscated for not declaring her dual citizenship, was then arrested for not registering as a “foreign agent”, and while in pre-trial detention was hit with the more serious “false information” charge. Details of Kurmasheva’s conviction were only released on Monday, with her employer and family kept in the dark.

“On Friday, Alsu Kurmasheva was sentenced. Six years, six months,” Natalya Loseva, a spokesperson for the Supreme Court of Tatarstan, said.

The court’s website states only that she had been found guilty in a hearing on Friday, with no details of the sentence.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2024