LONDON, 2 AUGUST 2024 — The Justice for Journalists Foundation heartily welcomes the release of Evan Gershkovich, an American Wall Street Journal correspondent; Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist for Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty RFE/RL; political activist and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza; and thirteen other political prisoners of Russia and Belarus.
We are deeply thankful to everyone pushing this deal forward, especially the governments of the USA, Germany, Slovenia and Turkey, as well as our friends and colleagues in the media defence organisations who tirelessly campaigned and advocated for the journalists.
We also urge the international human rights and political communities to continue the efforts to release other media workers held hostage by Russian and Belarus regimes:
- 48 journalists serving or awaiting their sentences in Russia;
- 37 journalists incarcerated in Belarus;
- at least 13 Crimean citizen and professional journalists tried and incarcerated in Russia;
- over 30 media workers captured in Ukraine and held in Russian captivity incommunicado.
More details about the attacks on media workers can be found in the Justice for Journalists Foundation’s reports.