Russian American journalist sentenced to 8 years in absentia

Masha Gessen, the New York-based journalist, who was born in Moscow and currently is a staff writer for the New Yorker and a columnist for the New York Times, was sentenced to 8 years in prison:

“The court imposes a sentence of imprisonment for a period of 8 years…the sentence is to be served in… a colony…with deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to managing websites… for 4 years”, the Moscow-based Basmanny court press service statement says in its official Telegram channel.

Earlier in December 2023 Gessen, was put on a wanted list by Russian authorities, the newspaper Guardian reported. The case against her was opened after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In September 2022 in an interview with Russian journalist Yury Dud, Gessen commented on her three-week work trip to war-torn Ukraine:

“I was there to make a report about war crimes… I’m a war correspondent with quite a big experience covering the actions of the Russian army. I was not surprised by what happened in Bucha. Yes, maybe I couldn’t sleep at night afterward, but I was not surprised. Because all the similar things I had seen during the two Chechen wars.”, Masha Gessen said in a video interview.

Although Masha Gessen is based in the United States, such a criminal case still brings some inconvenience into her life. For example, when booking plane tickets - Gessen must avoid any travel or even transfer via countries that have extradition treaties with Russia.

“On the one hand, it’s funny: they know perfectly well where I am, and this is all some kind of stupid game. On the other hand, you understand …. that for one sentence in an interview, you can be arrested and sentenced to many years.” Gessen is quoted by Deutsche Welle as saying. 

Masha Gessen for many years has been a prominent critic of Russian authorities. For example, in 2011 she wrote a book called “The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin”.

ADVERTISEMENT

Putting journalists and anti-government activists in Russia on the list of wanted and convicting in absentia to draconian terms has become a common practice. For example, the widow of the Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, was put on to the list and charged in absentia with “participating in an extremist group”. 

Earlier in June the flat of journalist Artyem Kriger was searched in Moscow and he was arrested on an “extremism” charge, Radio Svoboda reported.