World

Russian court extends detention of U.S. journalist to Dec. 5

Published

6 months ago

October 23, 2023

Russian court extends detention of U.S. journalist to Dec. 5

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who holds Russian and U.S. citizenship, attends a court hearing after being detained on suspicion of failing to register as a “foreign agent,” in Kazan, Russia October 20, 2023. REUTERS/Alexey Nasyrov/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

KAZAN, Russia, Oct 23 (Reuters) – A Russian-American journalist who stands accused of breaking Russia’s law on foreign agents had her pre-trial detention extended on Monday until Dec. 5.

Alsu Kurmasheva is a Prague-based journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), which is funded by the U.S. Congress and designated by Russia as a foreign agent, meaning it gets foreign funding for activity deemed to be political.

Kurmasheva’s lawyer Edgar Matevosyan told Reuters he considered the Kazan court’s decision “too harsh” and said he intended to appeal it. Under the ruling, she is to be held in a pre-trial detention centre in Kazan.

“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 president Jeffrey Gedmin said in a statement after the court ruling.

Kurmasheva is the second U.S. journalist to be arrested and charged in Russia since the start of its war in Ukraine, which has plunged relations between Moscow and Washington to their lowest level in more than 60 years.

After Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in March on spying charges, which he denies, almost all other U.S. journalists left Russia. Washington has repeatedly urged other Americans to leave.

The U.S. State Department said last week that the proceedings against Kurmasheva appeared to be “another case of the Russian government harassing U.S. citizens”. The Kremlin denied that and called the comment inappropriate.

Kurmasheva, who holds U.S. and Russian passports, entered Russia on May 20 to deal with a family emergency, RFE/RL said. As she awaited her return flight on June 2, she was detained and her passports were confiscated.

She was fined for failing to register her U.S. passport with Russian authorities, and charged last week with failure to register as a foreign agent, an offence that carries up to five years in prison.

The term “foreign agent”, which has Cold War connotations of espionage, has been applied in Russia to organisations, journalists, rights activists and even entertainers, and brings with it close government scrutiny and a mountain of red tape.

Reporting by Filipp Lebedev, editing by Mark Trevelyan and Gareth Jones

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World

Hamas delegation due in Cairo on Monday for Gaza ceasefire talks

Published

4 mins ago

April 29, 2024

Press Room

Hamas delegation due in Cairo on Monday for Gaza ceasefire talks

A Hamas delegation will visit Cairo on Monday for talks aimed at securing a ceasefire, a Hamas official told Reuters on Sunday, as mediators stepped up efforts to reach a deal ahead of an expected Israeli assault on the southern city of Rafah.

World

Ukraine's Zelenskyy urges faster US weapon deliveries

Published

37 mins ago

April 29, 2024

Press Room

Ukraine's Zelenskyy urges faster US weapon deliveries

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that U.S. weapons have begun to arrive in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy voiced the urgency of accelerating the process due to advancing Russian forces attempting to exploit the situation.
He also mentioned the lack of significant positive developments in timely support for the Ukrainian army.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that vital U.S. weapons were starting to arrive in Ukraine in small amounts.

He said that the process needed to move faster.

This is the result of advancing Russian forces trying to take advantage.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: UKRAINE’S ZELENSKYY OPENS UP ON US AID, ISRAEL, TRUMP

Zelenskyy spoke during a joint news conference in Kyiv alongside visiting NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that vital U.S. weapons were starting to arrive in Ukraine in small amounts and that the process needed to move faster as advancing Russian forces were trying to take advantage. (GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images)

During the conference, he said the situation on the battlefield directly depended on the speed of ammunition supplies to Ukraine.

“Timely support for our army. Today I don’t see anything positive on this point yet. There are supplies, they have slightly begun, this process needs to be sped up,” he said.

World

Nine on trial in Germany over alleged far-right coup plot

Published

1 hour ago

April 29, 2024

Press Room

Nine on trial in Germany over alleged far-right coup plot

Nine people charged with terrorism in connection with an alleged far-right plot to topple the German government went on trial on Monday in one of three linked cases.

The trial – which opened on Monday in Stuttgart – is the first to open in relation to the purported conspiracy, which came to light in late 2022. It is focused on those defendants of the Reich Citizens group who allegedly were part of its so-called military arm, German news agency dpa reported.

Federal prosecutors in December filed terrorism charges against a total of 27 people, one of whom has since died.

Nine other suspects, among them a self-styled prince and a former far-right lawmaker, will go on trial on 21 May at a Frankfurt state court in the most prominent of the three cases. The other eight will go on trial in Munich on 18 June.

On trial in the Frankfurt case includes Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, whom the group allegedly planned to install as Germany’s provisional new leader; Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a judge and former lawmaker with the far-right Alternative for Germany party; and a retired paratrooper.

The proceedings of the three cases are expected to last well into 2025.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on public broadcaster ZDF that the trial “shows the strength of our rule of law that the largest terrorist network of Reich Citizens to date… has to answer for its militant plans to overthrow the government.”

Prosecutors have said that the accused believed in a “conglomerate of conspiracy myths,” including Reich Citizens and QAnon ideology, and were convinced that Germany is ruled by a so-called deep state.

Adherents of the Reich Citizens movement, or Reichsbuergerbewegung in German, reject Germany’s postwar constitution and have called for bringing down the government, while QAnon is a global conspiracy theory with roots in the US.

According to prosecutors, the group planned to storm into the parliament building in Berlin and arrest lawmakers. It allegedly intended to negotiate a post-coup order primarily with Russia, as one of the allied victors of World War II.

The nine defendants at the Stuttgart trial are accused of membership in a terrorist organisation and “preparation of a high treasonous enterprise.” One of the defendants is also on trial for attempted murder, dpa reported.

Most of the nine suspects in the Frankfurt trial are also charged with membership in a terrorist organisation and “preparation of high treasonous undertaking.” The other eight alleged members of the group have been charged in separate indictments at the court in Munich.