A Russian court on Friday sentenced the journalist from Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich on espionage charges that his employer and the United States dismissed as a sham. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison after a secret and speedy trial in the country’s highly politicized justice system.
Mr. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government have vehemently denied the accusations.
The 32-year-old journalist was arrested on March 29, 2023, while reporting in the Ural Mountain city of Yekaterinburg. Authorities claimed, without providing any evidence, that he was collecting secret information for the United States.
He is the first American journalist arrested for espionage since Nicholas Daniloff in 1986, at the height of the Cold War. Mr. Gershkovich’s arrest shocked foreign journalists in Russia, even as the country has adopted increasingly repressive free speech laws since sending troops into Ukraine.
Closing arguments were held behind closed doors at the trial, during which Mr. Gershkovich admitted no guilt, according to the court’s press service.
Unlike the opening of the trial on June 26 in Yekaterinburg and previous hearings in Moscow, in which journalists were allowed to see Mr. Gershkovich briefly before the hearing began, there was no access to the courtroom this week and he was not seen, without any explanation. Espionage and treason cases are usually shrouded in secrecy.
Russian courts convict more than 99 percent of defendants, and prosecutors can appeal sentences they deem too lenient. They can even appeal acquittals.
“Evan’s wrongful detention has been an outrage since his wrongful arrest 477 days ago, and it must end now,” the Wall Street Journal said in a statement.
“Even as Russia orchestrates its shameful sham trial, we continue to do everything we can to demand Evan’s immediate release and state unequivocally: Evan was doing his job as a journalist and journalism is not a crime. Bring him home now.”
The U.S. State Department says Mr. Gershkovich is being “unjustly detained” and is calling for his release.
Asked Friday about a possible prisoner swap involving Mr. Gershkovich, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the United Nations on Wednesday that Moscow and Washington’s “special services” were discussing an exchange involving Evan Gershkovich. Russia has already raised the possibility of an exchange, but it says a verdict would first be needed. And even after a verdict, such an agreement could take months or even years.
State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel declined Thursday to discuss negotiations over a possible exchange, but said: “We have been clear from the outset that Evan did nothing wrong and should not have been arrested. To date, Russia has provided no evidence of a crime and has failed to justify Evan’s continued detention.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin hinted earlier this year that he would be willing to swap Mr. Gershkovich for Vadim Krasikov, a Russian serving a life sentence for the 2019 murder in Berlin of a Georgian citizen of Chechen origin.
Mr Gershkovich spent about 15 months in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo prison.