Journalists Danny Fenster and Alsu Kurmasheva were detained, tried and convicted in Myanmar and Russia respectively. They will talk about what led to their improper detentions, trials and efforts to free them.
Moderating the discussion will be former SPJ President and retired Bloomberg editor Steve Geiman.
Register for the Zoom session HERE.
Danny Fenster is the managing editor of Frontier Myanmar, a local news magazine. In the aftermath of the 2021 Myanmar coup d’état, Fenster was detained as he tried to leave the country and was charged with incitement for allegedly spreading false or inflammatory information. He became the only foreign journalist to be charged by military authorities. November 12 a military court sentenced Fenster to 11 years in prison for sedition and related charges. He was eventually released a few days later after former UN ambassador and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson engaged in face-to-face negotiations with the commander in chief of Myanmar’s military.
Fenster now lives in Vietnam.
Alsu Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen, is a journalist and editor at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). She first joined the outlet in 1998 as a radio program moderator.
In October 2023, Kurmasheva was detained in Russia on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent. In December 2023 she was also charged with disseminating “false” information about the Russian military. This stemmed from her alleged involvement in the distribution of a book based on stories of residents in Russia’s southwestern Volga region who oppose the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Kurmasheva was held for more than nine months before she was convicted on charges of spreading “fake” news about the Russian army and sentenced to 6½ years in prison. In August 2023, Kurmasheva was released as part of a prisoner exchange, which included the release of fellow American journalist Evan Gershkovich.
Moderating the session will be former SPJ National President, retired Bloomberg Editor and current president of the Washington, DC SDX Foundation Steve Geiman.