(Moscow) A Russian court on Tuesday rejected the appeal of American journalist Evan Gershkovich who challenged the extension of his pre-trial detention for espionage, accusations that the reporter, arrested in March, rejects.
Judge Yuriy Passyunin of the Moscow Municipal Court decided to leave “unchanged” the decision to keep Mr. Gershkovich in detention at least until November 30, according to an AFP journalist present at the hearing.
This respected 31-year-old reporter appealed against the three-month extension of his pre-trial detention, decided at the end of August.
During the hearing, Evan Gershkovich, standing in the cage reserved for the accused, gave a few smiles to the journalists he recognized.
Journalist at Wall Street Journal, he was arrested by Russian security services during a report in Yekaterinburg, in the Urals, on March 29. He has since been detained in Lefortovo prison in Moscow.
Evan Gershkovich, who also worked for the AFP in Moscow in the past, is accused of espionage, a crime punishable by 20 years in prison, but he rejects these accusations, as do Washington, his newspaper, his friends and his family .
Russia has never substantiated its accusations or publicly provided evidence, and the entire procedure has been classified secret. No date for his trial has been set at this time.
In recent years, several American citizens have been arrested and sentenced to heavy sentences in Russia, with Washington accusing Moscow of wanting to exchange them for Russians detained in the United States.