A Russian court convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on charges of espionage Friday, sentencing him to 16 years in a Russian prison colony in a trial the U.S. denounced as a sham.
The proceedings took place in Russia’s Ural Mountains capital of Yekaterinburg — the city where Russian security agents first detained Gershkovich while he was on a reporting assignment in March 2023.
The judge held just two hearings — out of the public eye and with no consular officials present — before finding Gershkovich guilty of the charges.
They note that Gershkovich was operating in Russia with official accreditation from Russia’s Foreign Ministry at the time of his arrest.
The U.S. government has characterized the spying charges as “fiction.” Shortly after Gershkovich’s detention, the State Department designated him “wrongfully detained” and insisted he was being punished for his work as a journalist.
“We have been clear from the start that Evan has done nothing wrong and never should have been arrested in the first place,” the U.
