US-Russian journalist convicted in a rapid, secret trial, court records show

A Russian court says it has convicted Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, of spreading false information about the Russian military. She has been sentenced to 6½ years in prison.

A Russian court has convicted Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, of spreading false information about the Russian military. She was sentenced to 6½ years in prison after a secret trial, court records and officials said Monday.

The sentencing in the city of Kazan came on Friday, the same day that a court in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in prison in a case the U.S. called politically motivated.

Kurmasheva, an editor for RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir service, was convicted of “spreading false information” about the military, according to the website of Tatarstan’s Supreme Court. Court spokeswoman Natalya Loseva confirmed to The Associated Press by telephone that Kurmasheva was sentenced to 6½ years in prison in a case classified as secret, without providing details about the nature of the charges against her.

Asked about the verdict on Monday, Stephen Capus, RFE/RL president and CEO, condemned Kurmasheva’s trial and conviction as “a travesty of justice” and said “the only just outcome is for Alsu to be immediately released from prison by her Russian captors.”

“It is high time that this American citizen, our dear colleague, be reunited with her beloved family,” Capus said in a statement to the AP.