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Russia convicted US reporter Evan Gershkovich of espionage after a brief trial. The Wall Street Journal reporter has been sentenced to 16 years after an alleged politically motivated spying trial. With this, he became the first U.S. journalist arrested on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War.
Gershkovich's employer, The Wall Street Journal, and the US government vehemently denied the charges levelled against him and denounced the trial as a sham.
According to the prosecution, Gershkovich was associated with gathering secret information on the orders of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) about a tank manufacturing company working for Russia's war in Ukraine.
On March 29, 2023, Gershkovich was arrested while on a reporting trip in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Ural Mountains Uunder the charge of espionage. However, the Russian authorities stayed away from offering any evidence to substantiate their claim.
Reacting to the news of conviction, US President Joe Biden said that Gershkovich “was targeted by the Russian government because he is a journalist and an American”.
“We are pushing hard for Evan's release and will continue to do so,” he said in a statement. “As I have long said and as the UN also concluded, there is no question that Russia is wrongfully detaining Evan. Journalism is not a crime.”
Besides Biden, Almar Latour, CEO of Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, and Editor in Chief Emma Tucker called it a “disgraceful, sham conviction”.
"Evan has spent 478 days in prison, wrongfully detained, away from his family and friends, prevented from reporting, all for doing his job as a journalist," they said in a statement. “We will continue to do everything possible to press for Evan's release and to support his family. Journalism is not a crime, and we will not rest until he's released. This must end now.”
