YEKATERINBURG, Russia (AP) — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich He was convicted of espionage on Friday and sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison, charges his employers and the U.S. government deny as trumped up.
Swift conclusion of Russian secret trials A highly politicized legal system It could pave the way for a prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington.
GershkovichSlim and with a shaven head and wearing a black T-shirt, he stood calmly in the glass defendant’s cage at the Sverdlovsk Regional Court. He listened to the verdict with a blank look on his face, but occasionally smiled. When Judge Andrei Mineev asked him if he had any questions about the verdict, he replied: “No, your Honor.”
After Mineev read the verdict, someone in the courtroom shouted, “Evan, we love you!”
Associated Press correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports that a Russian court has found an American journalist guilty of espionage after a trial widely seen as politically motivated.
The court’s press office said in a closed-door closing argument that Gershkovich did not admit to any guilt. Prosecutors had sought an 18-year sentence, but the judge opted for a shorter term.
“Mr. Gershkovich was targeted by the Russian government because he is a journalist and an American,” U.S. President Joe Biden said after the guilty verdict.
“We have worked hard to secure Evan’s release and will continue to do so,” he said in a statement. “As I have said before, and as the United Nations has concluded, there is no question that Russia is unlawfully detaining Evan. Journalism is not a crime.”
Dow Jones CEO and Wall Street Journal publisher Armour Latour and editor-in-chief Emma Tucker called it a “shameful false conviction.”
“Evan has spent 478 days in prison wrongfully detained, separated from family and friends, and barred from reporting for carrying out his job as a journalist,” they said in a statement. “We are calling for Evan’s release and will do everything in our power to support his family. Journalism is not a crime, and we will not rest until he is released. This must end now.”
Latour later told The Associated Press in an interview that he was “deeply disturbed” to see Gershkovich in the defense cage with a shaved head and looking even more emaciated, but added that he “believes he is otherwise in good health.”
The unusually fast pace of the trial “shows the speed at which trials can be moved by an invisible hand in these types of dictatorships and regimes,” he said, adding that it also highlighted “the spurious nature of these accusations.”
Gershkovich, 32, was arrested on March 29, 2023, during a reporting trip to the Ural Mountain city of Yekaterinburg. Authorities alleged, without presenting evidence, that he was collecting secret intelligence for the United States.
He has been in prison since his arrest, most of which is in Moscow, and the time he has spent there will count as part of his sentence. The notorious Lefortovo prison — The execution took place in the basement of a Tsarist prison used during Joseph Stalin’s purges. He was transferred to Yekaterinburg for trial.
Gershkovich is the first American journalist to be arrested on espionage charges since Nicholas Danilov in 1986 at the height of the Cold War. Foreign journalists in Russia were shocked by Gershkovich’s arrest, even though Russia has imposed increasingly repressive laws on free speech since sending troops into Ukraine.
Journalists were able to see Gershkovich briefly before proceedings began in Yekaterinburg on June 26 and at a previous trial in Moscow, but were barred from the courtroom when the trial resumed on Thursday. They were allowed in when the verdict was announced on Friday. Espionage and treason The incidents are typically shrouded in secrecy.
Russian courts convict more than 99 percent of defendants, and prosecutors can appeal if they believe the sentence is too light.
The US State Department declared that Gershkovich was being “unfairly detained” and said it would vigorously seek his release.
Asked about a possible prisoner swap involving Gershkovich, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Friday.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that “special agencies” in Moscow and Washington were discussing the swap. Russia has previously floated the possibility of a swap but said a verdict must come first. Even after the verdict is issued, any agreement could take months or even years.
U.S. officials proposed a swap for Gershkovich last year but the Russians rejected it and have not publicly announced any potential deal since.
State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel declined Thursday to discuss negotiations over the exchange.
President Vladimir Putin suggested earlier this year that he was open to swapping Gershkovich for Vadim Krasikov, a Russian national serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 murder of a Chechen Georgian.
Prosecutor Mikhail Ozdoev told reporters after the verdict that Gershkovich was accused of collecting secret information about the production and repair of military equipment at the Uralvagonzavod tank plant, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Yekaterinburg. Ozdoev repeated his contention that Gershkovich was acting on instructions from the CIA.
U.S. officials have dismissed it as a hoax. “Evan has never been employed by the United States government and is not a spy,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said last month.
In Russia, there is a broad interpretation of what constitutes serious crimes such as espionage and treason, and authorities often go after people who share publicly available information with foreigners, accusing them of leaking state secrets.
A United Nations human rights expert said this month that Russia Violated international law Instead of imprisoning Gershkovich, he should be released immediately.
The arrest of an American Increasingly common Nine Americans have been detained in Russia amid rising tensions between the two countries over the Ukraine conflict.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused Moscow of “treating human beings as bargaining chips.” She specifically criticized Gershkovich and the former Marines. Paul WhelanThe 53-year-old corporate security director from Michigan is serving a 16-year sentence after being convicted of espionage, charges he and the United States deny.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that the government is working “literally every day” on Gershkovich, Whelan and other Americans wrongfully detained in Russia and other countries.
“We’re still working and we’re not going to stop until we bring Evan, Paul and the others home,” Blinken said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
Since Russian authorities sent troops to Ukraine, Several Americans And other Westerners.
“From day one of my Administration, I have had no higher priority than seeking the release and safe return of Evan, Paul Whelan, and all Americans wrongfully held hostage overseas,” Biden said in a statement.
The son of Soviet immigrants who settled in New Jersey, Gershkovich is fluent in Russian and moved to Russia in 2017, where he worked for The Moscow Times before being hired by The Wall Street Journal in 2022.
Gershkovich, who has faced more than 10 closed-door hearings on his appeals for extended pretrial detention and release, was led into the courtroom in handcuffs and flashed flashes of light for the cameras before the hearing began.
The photos offered family, friends and US authorities a glimpse into him and a welcome relief from the monotony of prison life. But his mother, Ella Millman, said they were also a painful reminder that “he’s not with us.”
During his time in Lefortovo prison, Gershkovich was not allowed to make phone calls and was allowed out of his cell for just one hour a day to exercise, according to friends. He typically spent the rest of his time reading books in English and Russian and writing letters to friends and family.
Those close to him say he relied on his sense of humor to get through each day.
“I’m telling people not to panic,” Millman said, as he marked his second year in captivity in March, but acknowledged the toll it has taken on friends and family “is a huge strain.”
