A court has convicted Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian American journalist for the US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, of spreading false information about the Russian army and sentenced her to 6.5 years in prison after a secret trial, court records and officials said Monday.
- RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus denounced the trial and conviction of Kurmasheva as "a mockery of justice." "The only just outcome is for Alsu to be immediately released from prison by her Russian captors," he said in a statement to the AP. "It's beyond time for this American citizen, our dear colleague, to be reunited with her loving family," Capus said.