US asks Moscow to free jailed Russian-American journalist Kurmasheva

MOSCOW (Reuters) -The U.S. Embassy in Moscow on Tuesday called on Russia to free Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist for U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) who was jailed last week in what RFE/RL said was "a mockery of justice."

A court in the southern city of Kazan disclosed on Monday that it had convicted Kurmasheva of spreading false information about the Russian army in a closed trial on Friday, the same day as another court jailed US reporter Evan Gershkovich for 16 years in a ruling Washington also condemned as unjust.

Kurmasheva, a mother of two, is a Prague-based journalist and has been in custody in her native Russian region of Tatarstan since Oct. 18.

She was initially detained in June while trying to fly out of Russia after visiting her mother and later accused of what first looked like a fairly minor transgression before Russian investigators opened a criminal case accusing her of spreading false information about the Russian military, something she denied.

Kurmasheva's husband, Pavel Butorin, who also works for RFE/RL, said she had done nothing wrong, but that her trial was related to a book that she had edited entitled "Saying No to War. 40 Stories of Russians Who Oppose the Russian Invasion of Ukraine".

The U.S. embassy in a statement on Tuesday called Kurmasheva "a principled journalist uncompromisingly committed to the truth and objective reporting" and said the court's jailing of her represented "a sad day for journalism in Russia."

"We once again call on the Russian authorities to release Alsu and other imprisoned journalists and prisoners of conscience, and to respect the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitution of the Russian Federation," the embassy said.

There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin, but it has said in the past it was not following Kurmasheva's case and that Russia is not conducting a targeted campaign to persecute American citizens.

A U.S. Embassy Moscow spokesperson said the embassy was disappointed that Russian authorities had so far not granted it consular access to Kurmasheva and said it would continue to request such access.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou/Andrew Osborn Editing by Andrew Osborn)