THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
Last Friday, the Supreme Court of Tatarstan found Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist of the Tatar-Bashkir Service of Radio Liberty, guilty of spreading “fakes” about the russian army and sentenced her to six and a half years in prison. This is reported by the Associated Press. And in Yekaterinburg, russia, the Sverdlovsk Oblast Court, at a closed session on July 19, sentenced The Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison in a case of espionage, the russian Radio Liberty service reports.
Both russian courts, when considering the cases of international journalists, showed a tendency, showed an accusatory bias, and distanced themselves from objective assessments of falsified accusations brought against journalists; therefore, they passed unjust decisions. The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) notes that Ukrainian, in particular Crimean, journalists are well aware of the practice of falsifying accusations in russian courts; currently, there are about 30 Ukrainian journalists behind bars in russia. They were falsely accused of fulfilling their professional duty in good faith.
Alsu Kurmasheva has been living in Prague since 1998. Last year in May, she came to her native city of Kazan to visit her sick mother. On June 2, 2023, before her flight home, the journalist was detained by security forces at the Kazan Airport. Her American and russian passports were confiscated (Alsu has both russian and American citizenship), and later a criminal case was opened, allegedly for not reporting her second citizenship. Alsu was ordered not to leave the capital and was forbidden to leave the capital of Tatarstan. The investigation of this case lasted several months. Only in October 2023 a court in Kazan found her guilty and fined her RUB 10,000.
However, a week after the verdict was announced – on October 18, 2023 – the journalist was detained again. She was charged with failure to fulfill the obligation to submit documents for inclusion in the register of foreign agents. A few days later, the court ordered Alsu Kurmasheva to be taken into custody.
Another month and a half later – on December 11, 2023 – the investigation opened a criminal case on the distribution of “fakes” about the army. The journalist was accused of distributing the book No War. 40 Stories of Russians Who Oppose the Invasion of Ukraine, which the editors of Idel.Realii presented in the fall of 2022.
At the trial in the case of Evan Gershkovich, the questioning of witnesses and examination of evidence was conducted in just one day – July 18. Gershkovich is the first American journalist accused of espionage in russia since the Soviet Union. According to the version of the investigation, Gershkovich, during the interview on behalf of the CIA, collected information about the Uralvagonzavod, which manufactures and repairs military equipment. The investigation claims that this information contains a state secret. The journalist spent 15 months in the remand prison. Gershkovich pleaded not guilty. He insists that in russia, he was exclusively engaged in journalistic activities. The investigation did not provide public evidence of espionage, only saying that the journalist was allegedly “caught red-handed” and that he was working for American intelligence. Representatives of the United States and The Wall Street Journal called the case fabricated. The United States State Department granted Gershkovich the status of “wrongfully detained.” The Associated Press drew attention to the fact that the russian authorities did not provide detailed evidence to support the accusations of espionage. Gershkovich and his employer deny all the charges. The United States government called the arrest of the journalist illegal.
Sources close to russian and American political circles reported that the journalist could be held in exchange for russian citizens who are in prisons in the United States. The names of the russians, the likely candidates for the exchange, were not disclosed.
Moscow and Washington have said they are ready to discuss the exchange, but neither side has named terms or conditions for it.
Gershkovich was born in New Jersey to a family of immigrants from the USSR and has been working as a reporter in russia since 2018. The journalist did not leave the territory of russia even after the introduction of total military censorship after the start of a full-scale war against Ukraine.
On April 25, 2024, the European Parliament approved a resolution calling for the immediate release of all political prisoners held in russia, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and The Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich.
Among the political prisoners who, according to European legislators, should be released are oppositionists Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin, human rights defender Oleg Orlov, Alexei Navalny‘s associate Ksenia Fadeeva, a former Kommersant and Vedomosti journalist convicted in the case of treason Ivan Safronov.
After the preliminary trial, Acting President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Steve Capus stated that “the russian authorities are conducting a criminal campaign against illegally detained Alsu Kurmasheva.” According to Capus, “the State Department of the United States should officially declare her “unlawful but detained’: just as it was done for Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal, who was immediately put on the list after his wrongful arrest.”
The NUJU declares that Alsu Kurmasheva and Evan Gershkovich, as well as Ukrainian journalists Vladyslav Yesypenko, Serhii Tsyhipa, Oleksii Bessarabov, Dmytro Khyliuk, Viktoria Roshchina, Iryna Levchenko, Crimean Tatar journalists and many other colleagues illegally detained by the russian totalitarian system, should be released without any previous conditions. Journalism is not a crime!
“The path to the liberation of civilians in times of war is difficult, but we cannot remain silent,” said NUJU President Sergiy Tomilenko during a meeting at the Geneva headquarters of the Red Cross.
The release of every journalist from russian captivity is a priority for the NUJU. Sergiy Tomilenko spoke about how the NUJU documents russia’s war crimes against journalists, as well as solidarity actions with captured colleagues, which the Union conducts at the national and international levels.
“Unfortunately, at least 30 Ukrainian journalists are currently in captivity,” states the President of NUJU. “The International Committee of the Red Cross has a special mandate. By receiving and verifying information, families of captured Ukrainians at least receive confirmation that their relatives are alive. They get hope… Unfortunately, the path to the liberation of civilians in times of war is incredibly difficult. But you can’t be silent and do nothing!”
NUJU Information Service
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