US journalist Evan Gershkovich has been sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison on spying charges.
Gershkovich is a reporter with the Wall Street Journal. The publication has condemned his sentencing as a “disgraceful, sham conviction”.
He was reporting in Yekaterinburg, east of Moscow, when he was arrested in March 2023. He’s been held in a high-security prison ever since.
He’s the first U.S. citizen to be detained on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War.
Gershkovich
Evan Gershkovich worked for several publications from Moscow before he became a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) at the start of 2022.
In February that year, the 32-year-old began reporting on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, before new censorship laws were passed gagging critics of President Vladimir Putin’s regime.
Gershkovich had profiled Putin’s opponents and reported on the war’s impacts on communities near the Russia-Ukraine border.
Arrest
Gershkovich was arrested on a reporting assignment in 2023. The WSJ confirmed he held appropriate press credentials at the time.
Officials accused him of spying on Russia, on behalf of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), claiming Gershkovich had been collecting information about tanks in the city of Yekaterinburg.
Gershkovich, the WSJ, and his family have openly denied Russia’s claims.
Trial
Within a month of Gershkovich’s arrest, the U.S. State Department – which handles foreign affairs – declared he was being “wrongfully detained” and called for his release.
Currently, Gershkovich is being held in a penal colony in Yekaterinburg.
Last week, he appeared in a local court for a three-day trial. Proceedings were conducted behind closed doors, where U.S. officials have mostly been unable to gain access.
In a decision handed down earlier this week, a Russian judge has sentenced Gershkovich to 16 years in prison for espionage.
In a statement, the court said Gershkovich “did not admit guilt, but the totality of evidence presented to the court was sufficient to render a guilty verdict”.
The verdict can be appealed within 15 days.
Reaction
WSJ parent company Dow Jones has released a statement condemning the conviction as a “sham”.
“We will continue to do everything possible to press for Evan’s release,” it said. The publication has set up a dedicated campaign rallying under the hashtag #FreeEvan.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Gershkovich was “targeted by the Russian government because he is a journalist and an American”.
Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong has called for Gershkovich’s immediate release, describing his sentencing as a “deliberate attack on media freedom by Russia.”
Not-for-profit Reporters Without Borders also condemned the conviction, saying “conflating journalism with espionage has highly dangerous implications for press freedom.”
During a phone call with reporters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on whether a U.S-Russian prisoner exchange deal could be reached.
