Washington – After months of wrongful detention in Russia, Alsu Kurmasheva is finally enjoying the freedom to open a door whenever she wants. The American journalist was recently freed as part of a historic prisoner swap between the United States and Russia, and she couldn’t be happier.
Kurmasheva, an editor with VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague, was back in Washington last month to accept an award from the National Press Club. It was the start of her “thank you tour” following her release.
As a dual U.S.-Russian national, Kurmasheva traveled to Russia in May 2023 to visit her ailing mother in the city of Kazan. However, she was blocked from leaving and later jailed for over nine months on false charges.
“What happened to me was so wrong and it shouldn’t happen to any innocent person, especially a journalist,” Kurmasheva told VOA. “I spent 288 days in jail, and every minute of it was suffering. I was humiliated and had no rights, like many other inmates in Russia and Belarus.”
Life in prison was monotonous and endless for Kurmasheva. But she forced herself to remain optimistic. “I couldn’t write in my letters to my family and friends that I was falling apart because I knew they were trying so hard to get me out,” she said.
Letters from supporters all over the world helped Kurmasheva through her ordeal. She showed some of the postcards she received from people in New York and Oregon, saying, “When my spirit was really low, I would open these cards and letters and read them.”
During her detention, Kurmasheva shared a cell with nine other women, which allowed for more social interaction. But it didn’t make the situation any easier. “The doors were still locked, and each woman had her own bad luck and uncertain future,” she said.
When it was time for Kurmasheva’s release, her captors deceived her, telling her she was being sent to a different destination than Moscow. It wasn’t until she was hugging her husband and daughters at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington that she realized she was finally free. “That was the moment I had been dreaming of for months and months,” she said.
Before returning home to Prague, Kurmasheva went to a military base in Texas, where she received care from doctors and psychologists. According to Katherine Porterfield, a consulting psychologist at the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma in New York, the recovery process after wrongful detention varies for each person.
“The experience of incarceration is one of loss of liberty, agency, and freedom of movement, which can lead to disconnection,” Porterfield said, speaking generally about the support given to journalists and others after a wrongful detention. “It’s about moving a person from powerlessness to a sense of agency again.”
Throughout Kurmasheva’s imprisonment, press freedom groups criticized the State Department for not declaring her wrongfully detained. The designation, which Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal received within two weeks of his arrest, provides extra resources and support for families and commits the U.S. government to secure their release.
The State Department finally declared Kurmasheva wrongfully detained in August, shortly before the prisoner swap took place. “If any journalist is detained anywhere in the world while doing their job, they should immediately be designated as wrongfully detained,” Kurmasheva said.
Although Kurmasheva is now free, she admits that it feels bittersweet. She is still thinking about her three RFE/RL colleagues who are unjustly jailed – Andrey Kuznechyk and Ihar Losik in Belarus and Vladyslav Yesypenko in Russian-occupied Crimea. RFE/RL has condemned all three cases as politically motivated.
Kurmasheva is not sure if she wants to continue with journalism or try something new. But one thing she is certain of is her desire to help free her jailed colleagues and other political prisoners. “I feel the pain that their families are going through. I feel the pain of those journalists,” she said.
Kurmasheva takes every opportunity to thank her daughters and husband for fighting tirelessly to secure her release. “They were the leaders of my advocacy group. It all started at home,” she said. She also noticed how much her daughters have matured during her time
