Four months ago, RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva was a prisoner — a hostage of Russian President Vladimir Putin — in a penal colony in Kazan, Russia. On August 1st, she was one of sixteen such hostages released in a prisoner swap in which Russia got back eight spies and hardened criminals being held in the United States and elsewhere.

On November 21st, she was awarded the International Press Freedom Award by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in a ceremony in New York.

Referencing the more than 20 journalists presently imprisoned in Russia, she said, “Journalism is not a crime. . . . My colleagues are not just statistics; like me they are real human beings with families who miss and love them. There are dozens of other journalists in Russian prisons. They should be released at once.” [RFE/RL, November 22, 2024.]

She dedicated her award to those still imprisoned, including her RFE/RL colleagues Ihar Losik and Andrey Kuznechyk (in Belarus), Vladislav Yesypenko (in Crimea), and Farid Mehralizada (in Azerbaijan).

While we join in celebrating Alsu Kurmasheva’s return to her family and her work, the four new names provided by her will sadly be added to our current hostage list. Though not imprisoned on Russian territory, they are victims of the same corrupt system that seeks to shut down political dissent and truthful reporting in far too many countries. Now numbering sixteen, they are:

David Barnes
Staff Sergeant Gordon Black
Marc Fogel
Robert Gilman
Stephen James Hubbard
Ksenia Karelina
Andrey Kuznechyk (in Belarus)
Michael Travis Leake
Ihar Losik (in Belarus)
Daniel Martindale
Farid Mehralizada (in Azerbaijan)
Robert Shonov
Eugene Spector
Laurent Vinatier
Robert Romanov Woodland
Vladislav Yesypenko (in Crimea)

We must ensure that the new administration being inaugurated in Washington in January continues, without interruption, the work that has been underway up to this time. These hostages, and all the others whose names have not yet made it onto the list, must be brought home.

No excuses.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/24/24