Paris, December 14, 2023—Russian authorities must immediately release journalists Alsu Kurmasheva and Maria Ponomarenko, drop all charges against them, and stop harassing exiled members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.
On Tuesday, the Telegram channel Baza and state news agency Tatar-Inform reported that Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian national and an editor with the Tatar-Bashkir service of U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), had been charged with spreading “fake” information about the Russian army. Russian authorities have detained Kurmasheva since October on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent.
On Wednesday, Dmitry Chitov, the lawyer for Ponomarenko, told Russian human-rights news website OVD-Info that authorities had formally charged the journalist for allegedly using violence against staff of the prison where she is being held. Ponomarenko, a correspondent for independent news website RusNews, has been serving a six-year prison sentence since being convicted in February of spreading “fake” information about the Russian military.
RusNews had reported about the new charges, which carry a potential additional sentence of up to five years in prison under Article 321, Part 2 of the Russian Criminal Code, in early November. Chitov told CPJ via messaging app that the new case against Ponomarenko was opened on October 26 and that she was formally charged on December 8.
Separately, the Russian Ministry of the Interior recently added Masha Gessen to its wanted list after charging the U.S.-based Russian-U.S. journalist and writer with allegedly spreading “fake” information about the Russian army and its involvement in the massacre in the Ukrainian city of Bucha during their September 2022 interview with Russian journalist Yury Dud. According to documents that Gessen, who uses they/them pronouns, shared with CPJ via email, the case against them was opened in late August 2023 under Article 207.3, Part 2 of the criminal code, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in jail.
“By opening additional charges against imprisoned journalists Alsu Kurmasheva and Maria Ponomarenko, and prosecuting exiled journalist Masha Gessen, Russian authorities show how far they are willing to go to retaliate against their independent reporting,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in New York. “Authorities must immediately drop all charges against them, release Kurmasheva and Ponomarenko, and let the press work freely.”
The new charge against Kurmasheva stems from her alleged involvement in the distribution of a book based on stories of residents in Russia’s southwestern Volga region who oppose the country’s invasion of Ukraine, according to those sources, RFE/RL, and Current Time TV, a Russian-language project of RFE/RL. The book was published by RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir service in November 2022. The charge carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years, under Article 207.3, Part 2 of the criminal code.
“Whatever new cases are brought against Alsu, it is clear that this heartless system is holding her hostage in the Kazan detention center for being a U.S. citizen and a [RFE/RL] journalist,” Kurmasheva’s husband Pavel Butorin, who is director of Current Time TV, posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday.
“We strongly condemn Russian authorities’ apparent decision to bring additional charges against Alsu,” Jeffrey Gedmin, acting president and board member at RFE/RL, said on Tuesday.
Authorities have held Kurmasheva since October, when she was detained in the western city of Kazan on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent, for which the penalty is up to five years in prison, according to Article 330.1, Part 3 of the criminal code. Kurmasheva and RFE/RL have both rejected that charge.
Kurmasheva’s detention was last extended on December 1, and she will continue to be held until at least February 4, 2024.
In addition to Gessen, Russian authorities have recently been harassing several exiled journalists over their reporting:
- In November, Russian authorities arrested in absentia Anna Loiko, an editor with independent news outlet Sota, after putting her on the country’s international wanted list on charges of justifying terrorism. The charges stem from Loiko’s January 2021 report on banned Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which Russia deems a terrorist organization, the journalist told CPJ via email. The court ordered Loiko to be held for one month and one day if she were extradited to Russia or returned there. If convicted of terrorism charges, she could face up to seven years in prison, under Article 205.2 of the criminal code.
- In late November, exiled Russian newspaper Pskovskaya Guberniya reported that its editor-in-chief Denis Kamalyagin had been made a suspect in a case of repeatedly “discrediting” the Russian army. “Russian authorities had previously fined Kamalyagin 35,000 rubles (US$390) for discrediting the Russian army in October 2022, according to media reports. Kamalyagin told CPJ via messaging app that the charges stem from a Pskovskaya Guberniya video on the Russian attack on the Ukrainian central city of Uman in April 2023. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison, under Article 280.3, Part 1 of the criminal code.
- On Wednesday, a Moscow court upheld the 11-year prison sentences of exiled Russian journalists Ruslan Leviev and Michael Nacke. Leviev, the founder of the Russian independent investigative project Conflict Intelligence Team, and Nacke, a Lithuania-based video blogger, were both convicted in absentia in August for allegedly spreading “fake” information about the Russian army in several YouTube videos.
Russia held at least 19 journalists behind bars when CPJ conducted its 2022 prison census, which documented those imprisoned as of December 1, 2022.
CPJ emailed the Russian Ministry of Justice for comment but did not receive any response.
Editor’s note: The headline and fifth paragraph have been updated to correct the action taken against Gessen.