Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison by a court in the city of Kazan for spreading false information about the Russian military.
The mother of two was arrested in Russia last October for failing to register as a foreign agent, an editor at the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) said.
Court officials said she was sentenced on Friday, the same day. American journalist Evan Gershkovich has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage..
Ms. Kurmasheva denies any wrongdoing, and Stephen Capus, president and CEO of RFE/RL, told the Associated Press that her sentence was “a mockery of justice.”
“It is time for this American citizen, our beloved colleague, to be reunited with her loving family,” Capus added.
In a statement to the BBC, her husband, Pavel Butorin, said: “The girls and I know Alsu did nothing wrong. And the whole world knows it too. We need her to come home.”
Speaking to journalists when her detention was extended in May, Ms Kurmasheva said she had not spoken to her two daughters since her arrest, adding that her health was deteriorating.
Ms. Kurmasheva, who holds both American and Russian citizenship, works for RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir service. The two languages are closely related and are spoken by native peoples in two regions of central Russia.
Kurmasheva’s work often focuses on the problems faced by ethnic minorities in central Russia.
According to RFE/RL, Ms. Kurmasheva, who lives in the Czech Republic, went to Kazan in late May last year for a family emergency. She was detained while waiting for a return flight and her Russian and American passports were confiscated.
In Russia, it is illegal to not declare a US passport.
She was punished, then arrested a few months later on charges of being a “foreign agent”In December, while in detention, she was charged with a more serious crime of spreading false information.
It is believed her sentence may be related to a 2022 book she edited titled No to War, which features interviews and stories from Russians who opposed the invasion.
Independent Russian media organizations and press freedom watchdogs say Russian authorities regularly use repressive laws to harass journalists and suppress independent reporting.
The situation has worsened since the invasion of Ukraine, with accusations of “disinformation” often used to silence criticism of the war.
The indictment was passed by the Russian parliament shortly after February 24, 2024 – the day Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the time that this was “urgently necessary because of the unprecedented information war against our country”.
Russia is accused of hoarding US citizens as bargaining chips to secure the release of Kremlin allies held abroad.
The sentencing of Mr Gershkovich on Friday has fuelled speculation about a possible exchange for Russian prisoners held in foreign jails.
The speed of his conviction led some observers to believe a trade was imminent.
According to Russian judicial practice, an exchange usually requires a judgment that has already entered into force.
But while Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned the possibility of a swap for Mr Gershkovich in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson in February, Ms Kurmasheva’s fate remains unclear.
