Empty Thanksgiving seat for family of Russia-held journalist

For Pavel Butorin, Thanksgiving is the most important American holiday, but there’ll be an empty chair and a gaping absence this Thursday, which his wife will spend in a Russian prison.

Alsu Kurmasheva, a US-Russian journalist who like her husband works at the Prague-based, US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), has been detained for over a month.

“Around this time every year, we join our American friends and their families over a plentiful meal to share our gratitude for the love and support that we’ve all received,” Butorin, a Russian-born US citizen, told AFP.

“Alsu will be getting a meal delivered through a small window in her prison door, a prison meal,” added Butorin, the director of RFE/RL’s Russian-language TV and digital network.

Kurmasheva was detained after going to Russia in May to attend to her ailing mother.

On June 2, as she was boarding a plane back to Prague where she lives with Butorin and their two daughters, the police seized both of her passports and imposed a small fine for her failure to register as a US citizen.

In October, authorities detained her on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent. The detention has been extended until December 5.

“In reality, I think Alsu has been taken hostage because she is an American citizen and because she is a journalist with Radio Free Europe,” Butorin said, labelling his wife as a “political prisoner”.

– ‘Not the best decision’ –

“They waited for an American citizen to find themselves in a vulnerable situation inside Russia so they could capture them and hold them hostage,” said the 51-year-old Butorin.

Facing up to five years in jail if found guilty, Kurmasheva is the second US journalist to be detained by Russia after Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested in March for “spying”.

Butorin said Kurmasheva was well aware of all the risks before travelling to Russia but had to help her sick mother.

“It wasn’t an easy decision to make… (and) in hindsight, yes, it wasn’t the best decision.”

On Monday, RFE/RL published extracts from Kurmasheva’s letter from prison, sent via an official online system that is under censorship.

“It’s a paid system and it takes payment cards issued by Russian banks only, so not everybody here in the West has the ability to communicate with her like that,” Butorin said.

In the letter, Kurmasheva said she went for walks and even runs in the prison yard, but her husband said the upbeat tone did not fool him.

“We should all remember that she’s being kept captive by a penitentiary system notorious for its mistreatment of political prisoners,” he told AFP.

– ‘Wrongfully detained’ –

The couple met in Prague and have been married for 16 years. Their two teenage daughters both have US citizenship.

“It’s hard for them to fathom that their mother is behind bars only because she is a journalist, only because of something that she has published as a journalist or said on the air,” said Butorin.

He said he was grateful for all of the support he has received, but has called on the US Department of State to designate his wife as “a wrongfully detained person”.

“This designation will essentially mean that the US government will in fact commit to securing Alsu’s release. I would appreciate that very much.”

He said Turkey and other Muslim nations could also help — an ethnic Tatar, Kurmasheva has Turkic roots.

“She is not a criminal, she doesn’t deserve this, her family and children miss her very much and we want her back,” added Butorin.

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