Fifteen months after Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, he returns to that city for a trial behind closed doors
Fifteen months after Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, he returns there for his trial starting Wednesday behind closed doors.
The 32-year-old Gershkovich, the American-born son of immigrants from the USSR, is the first Western journalist to be arrested on espionage in post-Soviet Russia. Both his employer and the U.S. government vigorously deny the allegations; the State Department has declared him “wrongfully detained,” thereby committing the government to assertively seek his release.
The newspaper has worked diligently to keep the case in the public eye and it has become an issue in the combative months leading up to the U.S. presidential election.
Since his arrest on March 29, 2023, Gershkovich has been held in Moscow’s notoriously dismal Lefortovo Prison. He has appeared healthy during court hearings in which his appeals for release have been rejected.
“Evan has displayed remarkable resilience and strength in the face of this grim situation”, U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy said on the first anniversary of his arrest.
Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison if the court finds him guilty, which is almost certain. Russian courts convict more than 99% of the defendants who come before them, and prosecutors can appeal sentences that they regard as too lenient, and they even can appeal acquittals.
In addition, Russia’s interpretation of what constitutes espionage is broad. Igor Sutyagin, an arms control expert at a Russian Academy of Sciences think tank, was behind bars for espionage for 11 years for passing along material that he said was publicly available.
Paul Whelan, an American corporate security executive, was arrested in Moscow for espionage in 2018 and his serving a 16-year sentence.
