A Russian-American journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has been ordered to stay in pre-trial detention until December on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent, her employersaid Monday.Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with the United States -funded outlets Tatar-Bashkir service who was detained last Wednesday, faces up to five years in prison if found guilty of violating Russias law on foreign agents.The Sovetski District Court in Kazan, the capital of Russias republic of Tatarstan, ruled Monday to extend Kurmashevas pre-trial detention until Dec.
5.Kurmashevas lawyer requested her release pending trial.The hearing was held behind closed doors, according to RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir service, Idel.Realii.The outlet said Kurmasheva is the first person to face criminal punishment for failure to register as a foreign agent in Russia."We are deeply disappointed by the outcome of today's hearing.
We call for Alsu's immediate release so she can be reunited with her family, RFE/RL acting President Jeffrey Gedmin said.The Kremlin said it was unaware of Kurmashevas case and denied that it was pursuing a campaign to persecute United States citizens.Kurmasheva is the second United States journalist to be held by Russia in less than a year.Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been held in a Moscow prison since March on espionage charges, which Washington and his employer strongly reject.Kurmasheva was temporarily detained at a Kazan airport on June 2, where both her United States and Russian passports were confiscated and she was fined for failing to register her American passport with the authorities.She was detained again last Wednesday on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent.The Justice Ministry in 2017 labeled RFE/RL and several of its affiliates, including Idel.Realii, as foreign agents in response to the United States requiring the Kremlin-funded RT broadcaster to register as a foreign agent.
Kurmasheva herself is not a designated foreign agent.