Russian court keeps US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva in jail: employer
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A Russian court on Tuesday refused to release from detention US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who faces up to 10 years in prison on charges of spreading "false information" about the country's army.
Tuesday marks eight months since Kurmasheva, a joint US and Russian citizen, was arrested in Russia on charges of breaching it "foreign agent" law.
She was subsequently charged with spreading "false information" about Russia's armed forces under strict military censorship laws introduced days after Moscow launched its military offensive against Ukraine.
On Tuesday, the Tatarstan Supreme Court rejected Kurmasheva's appeal against an earlier decision to extend her pre-trial detention until August 5, her employer Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) told AFP.
The 47-year-old faces up to 10 years in prison on the charges, which have been condemned by US President White Biden as retribution for her reporting.
Kurmasheva edited a 2022 book titled "Saying No to War", a collection of interviews and stories from Russians opposed to the military campaign that President Vladimir Putin ordered against Ukraine.
The journalist, who lived in Prague with her husband and two children, had her US and Russian passports confiscated last summer after travelling to Russia for a family emergency.
She was initially fined for failing to declare dual citizenship but while she was awaiting the return of her passports she was arrested on the more serious charges.
She is the second US journalist to be arrested in Russia since it launched its offensive on Ukraine.
Wall Street Journal Reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023.
He will go on trial on espionage charges, which carry a possible 20-year sentence, in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on June 26, the court said on Monday.
Gershkovich also denies the charges levelled against him, which prompted accusations from the United States that Russia had effectively taken him political hostage.
No trial date has been set for Kurmasheva.
Kurmasheva's lawyers have called for her to be released and put under house arrest pending trial.
RFE/RL President Stephen Capus called the case against her "needless" and "cruel."