Russian Court Rejects Appeal By Jailed U.S. Journalist Evan Gershkovich

June 22, 2023 11:15 am

RIGA, Latvia – A Moscow court on Thursday rejected an appeal by jailed American journalist Evan Gershkovich against Russia’s continued detention of him in the high-security Lefortovo prison, meaning he will remain imprisoned on spying charges that the United States government and his employer, the Wall Street Journal, say were fabricated.

Russian security agents arrested Gershkovich while he was on a reporting trip in Yekaterinburg, near the Ural mountains, in March. Russian officials have barred U.S. Embassy officials from visiting him in prison since April, when Ambassador Lynne M. Tracy met him for the first time.

At Thursday’s hearing, Gershkovich appealed a May court decision to extend his detention in Lefortovo prison until Aug. 30. It was the third time his appeals against his detention have been dismissed.

Tracy was present in the court on Thursday, and Russian media showed video of Gershkovich wearing a dark shirt and jeans, standing in the glass prisoner’s dock in the courtroom.

Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison in the first case of Russian espionage charges against an accredited foreign journalist since the Cold War.

Russian officials have taken an unusually harsh tone on the case, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov immediately claiming without evidence that the journalist was “caught red-handed.” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova insisted that Gershkovich’s actions had nothing to do with journalism.

The United States has declared Gershkovich to be wrongfully detained along with another American, Paul Whelan, who was jailed in 2018 and convicted on spying charges in 2020. Whelan is now serving a 16-year sentence. President Biden, Congress, and editors and journalists around the world have called for Gershkovich’s release.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, told journalists on Thursday that Russia was considering another request from the U.S. Embassy for consular access, but no decision had been made. In April, Ryabkov said Moscow might be willing to discuss a prisoner exchange involving Gershkovich, but only after his trial was complete, a process likely to take months.