During a routine check of court databases to monitor for upcoming trials and court appearances, Moscow-based editorial assistant Varya Kudryavtseva stumbled across information that the trial and verdict had been held in secret for Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Kurmasheva was accused of spreading false information about the Russian army and sentenced her to 6½ years in prison on the same day that a court in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in prison.
Kudryavtseva’s diligence in staying across numerous political trials and convictions in Russia paid off. She passed this information on to senior correspondent Dasha Litvinova and together the two of them worked various sources to confirm that the information was correct.
Litvinova’s extensive experience covering political trials in Russia meant she could quickly send out an alert and urgent series thereby breaking news of the trial and conviction of Kurmasheva.
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