MOSCOW: Wall Street Journal writer Evan Gershkovich’s most recent appeal against his pre-trial detention on espionage allegations was denied by a Russian court on Tuesday.
When Gershkovich, 32, was taken into custody by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on March 29, 2023, he became the first American journalist to be arrested on charges of spying in Russia since the end of the Cold War. He denies being a spy, as does his newspaper and the US government.
Although his incarceration was prolonged to June 30 in a closed-door session last month, no date has been set for his trial.
Nonetheless, on Tuesday, reporters were permitted to record Gershkovich as he waved to his media colleagues while standing in a glass cage in the courtroom.
According to the Wall Street Journal, when the judge asked Gershkovich if he understood the court’s ruling, he said, “all clear.”
The newspaper said, “It remains outrageous that Evan has been wrongfully detained by the Russian government for over a year,” and it urged the Biden administration to take all necessary steps to ensure his release.
Gershkovich was detained while traveling to Yekaterinburg in the Urals. The Russian Foreign Ministry had granted him permission to operate as a journalist in Russia.
He has been detained at Moscow’s high-security Lefortovo jail for more than a year. Russia is allegedly using him as part of “hostage diplomacy,” according to the US.
In response to Russia’s heinous attempts to utilize Americans as negotiating chips, President Joe Biden declared last month, on the eve of Gershkovich’s arrest, that “we will continue to denounce and impose costs.”
According to President Putin, Gershkovich might eventually be freed in return for a Russian prisoner being detained elsewhere.
The US State Department has classified Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, an American who was found guilty of spying on Russia and given a 16-year sentence in 2020, as “wrongfully detained.”
