The court approved the verdict of Alsu Kurmasheva in the case of failure to notify of US citizenship

The defense team of arrested Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist (included in the register of foreign agents), Alsu Kurmasheva, failed to overturn the verdict in the case of dual citizenship. Previously, the magistrate found her guilty of failure to notify about a second passport (Article 330.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), and the Sovetsky District Court of Kazan dismissed the appeal. The defense connects the criminal prosecution of the journalist with her professional activities and believes that it allowed the authorities to “keep” Alsa Kurmasheva in the Russian Federation to initiate a more serious criminal case. Let us recall that shortly after the verdict, the journalist was accused of “purposefully collecting information in the field of military, military-technical activities of the Russian Federation” without voluntarily registering in the register of foreign agents (Part 3 of Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Now Ms. Kurmasheva is in a pre-trial detention center.

On December 4, judge of the Sovetsky District Court of Kazan Alsu Shaikhutdinova rejected the appeal of lawyer Rim Sabirov against the sentence of journalist Alsu Kurmasheva. Let us recall that on October 11, the magistrate of the Sovetsky district of Kazan found her guilty of failure to notify of the presence of foreign citizenship (Article 330.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and fined her 10 thousand rubles. During the debate on the complaint, Mr. Sabirov stated that this criminal case should have been terminated “at the investigation stage.” He indicated that it was initiated on June 9, although on June 3 Ms. Kurmasheva notified the Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation about her US citizenship.

The lawyer added that the journalist was not obliged to inform the authorities about her second citizenship, since she belongs to “persons who permanently reside outside the Russian Federation” – and the notification requirement does not apply to such people.

According to him, since 1998, Mrs. Kurmasheva has lived in the Czech Republic with her husband and two children, and periodically comes to Russia for a short time to visit her mother and brother, a disabled person of the second group, in Kazan. The defense lawyer referred to FSB data from the criminal case – it says that since 2010, Alsou Kurmasheva has been in Kazan two or three times a year. Ms. Kurmasheva herself stated that her place of residence in the Czech Republic “was known to the Russian authorities.” She added that “she has never been to the United States and never took a US passport with her to Russia.”

However, prosecutor Solovyova cited the explanations of Alsou Kurmasheva that she came to Russia every two months and lived for two to three weeks with her brother or mother: “That is, she lived both here and there.” Lawyer Sabirov replied that such a frequency of visits was observed only during periods of deterioration in the health of the client’s relatives, and again recalled the FSB data.

“Kurmasheva is a journalist, and perhaps this is why law enforcement agencies pay special attention to her,” said Rim Sabirov.

According to him, the client “was actually kept on the territory of the Russian Federation because she did not have the opportunity to leave because of this criminal prosecution.”

Let us remind you, Alsa Kurmasheva was detained in Kazan on October 18, a week after the verdict of failure to notify of second citizenship. A case was opened against her under Part 3 of Art. 330.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“failure to fulfill the obligation established by the legislation of the Russian Federation” for foreign agents to register in the appropriate register if there is a “purposeful collection of information in the field of military, military-technical activities of the Russian Federation” and this data can be used by foreigners against the security of the Russian Federation). On October 23, she was arrested by decision of the Sovetsky District Court, and on December 1, her arrest was extended until February 5. The Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee does not specify the reason for initiating this criminal case and does not comment on the case itself. Court hearings to select a preventive measure are held closed to the press.

Considering the appeal, Judge Shaikhutdinova said that the case on dual citizenship contained the testimony of an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Gizatullin: “According to operational information, Kurmasheva could have been involved in editing and posting a video about the attack on the Russian Ambassador to Poland” (May 9, 2022, the ambassador was attacked during the laying of flowers at the War Memorial Cemetery in Warsaw). The video was accompanied by comments from journalist Andrei Grigoriev (included in the register of foreign agents), “justifying these violent actions.” “I have nothing to do with the video,” replied Alsou Kurmasheva.

As Kommersant reported, six months after the attack on Russian diplomats on May 9, 2022 in Warsaw, law enforcement agencies put Kazan journalist Andrei Grigoriev on the wanted list, who is accused under Part 2 of Art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public justification or propaganda of terrorism). According to investigators, he posted a video on YouTube containing “statements aimed at justifying acts of violence” against the ambassador. In connection with his criminal case, a number of Kazan journalists and activists were searched in August and September last year. Mr. Grigoriev previously headed the Kazan editorial office of Moskovsky Komsomolets, and in recent years he was a colleague of Alsu Kurmasheva at the publication Idel.Realii (included in the register of foreign agents). After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, he left Russia.

Sabirov’s lawyer said that he would appeal the decision of the Sovetsky District Court.

Olga Kudrina, Kazan