European lawmakers have approved a resolution that calls for the “immediate and unconditional release” of all political prisoners held in Russia, including journalists Alsu Kurmasheva and Evan Gershkovich.
The resolution was part of a joint motion in the European Parliament on April 25, condemning Russia’s “undemocratic” presidential election last month and their “illegitimate extension” to territories inside Ukraine that Moscow has illegally annexed.
The resolution — which was approved by 493 MEPs in favor while 11 were against and 18 abstained — calls “for the immediate and unconditional release and compensation of all political prisoners…unjustly imprisoned journalists, including Alsu Kurmasheva and Evan Gershkovich, and their families, for the restoration of freedom of expression and association in Russia and for increased international scrutiny and monitoring of human rights abuses in Russia.”
Among others, the resolution names Vladimir Kara-Murza, Oleg Orlov, Ksenia Fadeeva, Ivan Safronov, and Ilya Yashin as political prisoners who should be released.
Kurmasheva, a Prague-based journalist with RFE/RL who holds dual U.S. and Russian citizenship, has been held in Russian custody since October 18 on a charge of violating the so-called “foreign agent” law.
RFE/RL and the U.S. government say the charges are a reprisal for her work as a journalist. She had traveled to Russia to visit and care for her elderly mother and was initially detained while waiting for her return flight on June 2 at Kazan airport, where her passports were confiscated.
Kurmasheva, 47, was arrested in Kazan and charged with failing to register as a foreign agent under a punitive Russian law that targets journalists, civil society activists, and others. She’s also been charged with spreading falsehoods about the Russian military and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Many critics and rights groups say the so-called foreign agent law is used by the Kremlin to crack down on any dissent. Moscow has also been accused of detaining Americans to use as bargaining chips to exchange for Russians jailed in the United States.
Kurmasheva, who lives in the Czech capital with her husband, Pavel Butorin, who also works for RFE/RL, and their two daughters, aged 12 and 15, has described her prison conditions as poor and said her health has deteriorated as she has been unable to access proper treatment.
Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, has been held in detention since March 2023 on spying charges both he and the newspaper vehemently deny, saying the 32-year-old was merely doing his job as an accredited reporter when he was arrested.
Gershkovich has been designated as wrongfully detained by the U.S. government. Kurmasheva, however, has not, despite pleas from RFE/RL and Kurmasheva’s family.
The designation would mean her case would be assigned to the office of the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs in the State Department, raising the political profile of her situation and allowing the Biden administration to allocate more resources to securing her release.
President Vladimir Putin easily won the March presidential election, which independent observers said was neither free nor fair. The vote was the first major election to take place in Russia since Putin launched his full-scale invasion.