A Russian court sentenced a dual Russian-U.S. citizen and journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to 6½ years in a prison colony on the same day that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was convicted of espionage.
Alsu Kurmasheva was found guilty on Friday of publicly disseminating false information about Russia’s military, the state-run Tass news service reported, citing information from the Tatarstan Supreme Court published Monday. Her trial, like Gershkovich’s, was conducted behind closed doors.
Kurmasheva was detained at Kazan airport in Tatarstan in June last year as she attempted to return to Prague where she worked as an editor, her employer said. She had traveled to Russia to attend to a family emergency. Authorities initially charged her with failing to register as a "foreign agent.”