The U.S. National Press Club -- a professional association of American journalists -- and 18 other media freedom groups have called on President Joe Biden in a public letter to press for the recognition of RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who has been held in a Russian prison since last year, as a "wrongfully detained" person.
Kurmasheva, a Prague-based journalist who holds dual U.S. and Russian citizenships, was taken into custody on October 18, 2023, on a charge of violating the so-called "foreign agent" law and distributing false information about Russia's military, a charge that could lead to a 10-year prison sentence.
SEE ALSO: Who Are The Americans Behind Bars In Russia?She, her employer, and her supporters reject the charges as politically motivated.
The U.S. government and Biden himself have called for her immediate release, saying the charges are punishment for Kurmasheva's work as a journalist for RFE/RL.
However, the U.S. State Department has so far failed to designate her as a "wrongfully detained" person, a move that would raise the profile of the case against Kurmasheva, effectively labeling it as politically motivated.
A statement issued by National Press Club President Emily Wilkins that accompanied the letter said two previous appeals to Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken regarding the need to prioritize cases of detained American media workers remained unanswered.
"We have a section of the State Department designed for cases like Alsu’s -- the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs," the signatories of the letter said, adding that for her case to be transferred there, she needs to be declared wrongfully detained.
"She meets all the criteria. This should happen immediately. It should have happened months ago," the letter said.
"We have listened to the State Department twist itself into a pretzel explaining how there are other factors to be considered besides the criteria, but we have yet to hear a clear reason why State cannot declare her wrongfully detained," it continued.
Kurmasheva, who has worked for RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service for some 25 years, left the Czech capital in mid-May 2023 because of a family emergency in her native Tatarstan.
She was briefly detained while waiting for her return flight on June 2, 2023, at the Kazan airport, where both of her passports and phone were confiscated.
After five months waiting for a decision in her case, Kurmasheva was fined 10,000 rubles ($112) for failing to register her U.S. passport with Russian authorities.
Unable to leave Russia without her travel documents, Kurmasheva was detained again in October and this time charged with failure to register as a "foreign agent." Two months later, she was charged with spreading falsehoods about the Russian military.
On June 18, Judge Rizvan Yusupov upheld last month's decision by a district court in Tatarstan's capital, Kazan, to extend her pretrial detention until at least August 5.
During the last hearing on May 31, Kurmasheva said that her health had deteriorated and that she needed surgery.
"It has taken Alsu's government far too long to step forward and say that her detention is wrongful," the letter said, calling on Biden to step in.
"Your State Department must declare Alsu wrongly detained now," it said.
Among the signatories of the letter are media watchdogs and professional organizations such as Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Women Press Freedom, and the Coalition For Women in Journalism.
Two other Americans held in Russian custody, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, have both have been designated as "wrongfully detained" by the State Department.
Gershkovich went on trial on June 26 in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg following his arrest in March 2023 on espionage charges that he, his employer, and the U.S. authorities have vehemently rejected as politically motivated.