Alsu Kurmasheva in conversation with Kateřina Králová, 8 October at 18:30

What does it mean to continue working as a journalist when professional activity itself becomes a source of personal danger? Russian-American Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva will speak in Pardubice with Kateřina Králová of the Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences about exile, political repression, uncertainty, and her imprisonment in Russia. Alsu Kurmasheva was detained in Kazan, Russia, in October 2023, where she had travelled for personal reasons. In July 2024, she was sentenced to six and a half years in prison and was released on 1 August 2024 as part of an international prisoner exchange. Her personal experience opens up broader questions of transnational repression, political persecution, and the impact of authoritarian regimes beyond the borders of individual states.

The conversation will be moderated by Kateřina Králová, researcher at the Department of Memory Studies of the Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Professor of Contemporary History at Charles University. The event is organised in connection with the project Times in Crisis, Times of Crisis: The Temporalities of Europe in Polycrisis (TiCToC), carried out at the Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences within the international HERA–CHANSE programme.

When: Thursday, 8 October 2026, 18:30
Where: Institute of Memory of Nations, Machoň Passage, Pardubice
Language: English
Admission: Free

More information is available on the website of the Institute of Memory of Nations.