U.S. reporter must remain in detention in Russia until late August, Moscow court rules
MOSCOW — A Moscow court Thursday rejected an appeal by Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and upheld an earlier ruling that he should remain in jail on espionage charges until late August.
The 31-year-old U.S. citizen was arrested in late March while on a reporting trip. A Moscow court agreed last month to keep him in custody until Aug. 30. Defense lawyers had challenged the decision.
Gershkovich, wearing a black T-shirt and light blue jeans, looked tense and paced around inside a glass defendant’s cage while waiting for the hearing to begin at the Moscow City Court. Before the hearing began, other journalists in the courtroom were asked to leave, and the proceedings took place behind closed doors.
The ruling was broadcast to reporters, who watched it on two large TV screens in a separate room in the courthouse.
While waiting for the judge, Gershkovich smiled and chatted with his parents, who were present. U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy also attended.
“Evan continued to show remarkable strength and resiliency in these very difficult circumstances,†she told reporters afterward.
A top Russian diplomat says Moscow might be willing to discuss a prisoner swap involving jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
Tracy said she was “extremely disappointed†by the ruling, reiterating that Gershkovich was “an innocent journalist†and that Russia’s charges against him were baseless.
“Such hostage diplomacy is unacceptable, and we call on the Russian Federation to release him,†she said.
Gershkovich and the Wall Street Journal have denied that he was spying in Russia. The U.S. government has declared him to be wrongfully detained and demanded his immediate release.
His arrest in the city of Yekaterinburg rattled journalists in Russia, where authorities have not detailed what, if any, evidence they have gathered to support the espionage charges.
Brittney Griner said she’s ‘ready’ to detail her life in Russian prison in an upcoming memoir. She returned to the United States in December 2022.
Gershkovich is being held at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, which is notorious for its harsh conditions. U.S. Embassy officials were allowed to visit him once, but Russian authorities rejected two other requests to see him.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters Thursday that the ministry is considering another visit request from the embassy.
Analysts have said that Moscow may be using jailed Americans as bargaining chips as U.S.-Russia tensions soar over the war in Ukraine. At least two U.S. citizens arrested in Russia in recent years — including WNBA star Brittney Griner — have been exchanged for Russians jailed in the U.S.
Ryabkov has cautioned, however, that the possibility of a swap in Gershkovich’s case “could only be considered after a court delivers its verdict.†Prominent lawyers who have worked on espionage cases told the Associated Press that the investigation alone could take up to 18 months.
Gershkovich is the first American reporter to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since September 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, was arrested by the KGB. Daniloff was released without charge 20 days later in a swap for an employee of the Soviet Union’s United Nations mission who was arrested by the FBI, also on spying charges.
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