Final statements scheduled for July 19 in the trial of American journalist in Russia
Reporter Evan Gershkovich from The Wall Street Journal is facing accusations of collecting confidential information while on assignment in Russia in March 2023.
Mr. Gershkovich has been in custody for over a year and attended the trial on July 18, according to the court. The proceedings are happening behind closed doors, preventing reporters from seeing Mr. Gershkovich, unlike previous court sessions where he was briefly visible before the trial began.
It’s common for cases involving espionage to be shrouded in secrecy.
The 32-year-old journalist for The Wall Street Journal was arrested by Russia’s Federal Security Service on March 29, 2023, in Yekaterinburg, approximately 900 miles east of Moscow. Prosecutors claim that Mr. Gershkovich gathered classified information at the CIA’s behest about a company manufacturing tanks for Russia’s activities in Ukraine. Mr. Gershkovich, an American-born son of immigrants from the USSR, is the first Western journalist arrested on espionage charges in post-Soviet Russia.
The U.S. State Department has labeled his detention as “wrongful” and has committed to working towards his release.
“To date, Russia has provided no evidence of wrongdoing for a simple reason: Evan did nothing wrong. Journalism is not a crime,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement commemorating the one-year anniversary of his detention in March.
U.S. Officials Express Concern
On July 16, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of treating people as “bargaining chips” in her remarks at the United Nations. She referenced Mr. Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine imprisoned in Russia since December 2018. Mr. Whelan, 53, was arrested for alleged espionage and given a 16-year sentence.
“We will not rest until Paul and Evan come home and Russia has ceased this barbaric practice of holding human pawns once and for all,” Ms. Thomas-Greenfield stated. “And that is a promise.”
Mr. Gershkovich’s trial began on June 26 in Yekaterinburg after spending around 15 months in Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison.
During the initial trial day, the court announced an adjournment until mid-August. However, Mr. Gershkovich’s legal representatives requested an earlier second hearing, as cited by Russian state media quoting court officials.
The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Gershkovich’s employer, along with U.S. officials, have dismissed the alleged espionage charges as false and criticized the trial as unfair and illegitimate.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
