If convicted, Evan Gershkovich could face a sentence of up to 20 years.
Yekaterinburg:
Evan Gershkovich, with a shaved head, was tried behind closed doors on Wednesday in a Russian court where the American journalist faces espionage charges.
Prosecutors say the Wall Street Journal reporter gathered secret information on orders from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency about a company that makes tanks for Russia’s war in Ukraine. If convicted, he could face a sentence of up to 20 years.
Gershkovich, his newspaper and the US government reject the accusations and say he was just doing his job as a reporter accredited by the Russian Foreign Ministry to work there.
“His case is not a question of evidence, procedural standards or the rule of law. It is about the Kremlin using American citizens to achieve its political goals,” the US embassy in Moscow said in a statement, calling for his release Gershkovich’s immediate response.
After several hours of closed proceedings, the court said the next session would take place on August 13 – an indication that the case will drag on for months. The reason for the long break was unclear.
Journalists were allowed to film Gershkovich, 32, for a brief period before the start of the trial, in which the media is banned. Wearing an open-necked shirt and inside a glass box, he smiled slightly and nodded to colleagues he recognized.
Prosecutor Mikael Ozdoyev later summarized the accusations for reporters.
“The investigation established and documented that… Gershkovich, on instructions from the CIA, in September 2023, in the Sverdlovsk region, collected secret information about the activities of a defense enterprise relating to the production and repair of military equipment,” Ozdoyev said .
“Gershkovich carried out the illegal actions while observing meticulous conspiratorial measures,” he added.
Ozdoyev later told reporters that he had misspoken and that the alleged crime actually occurred in March 2023 – the month of the reporter’s arrest.
Closed Hearing
Closed trials are standard procedure in Russia for cases of alleged treason or espionage involving classified state material, which can typically last several months.
The Kremlin maintains that the case, and preparations for it, are the responsibility of the court, but said – without publishing evidence – that Gershkovich was caught “red-handed”.
In the context of the war in Ukraine, Gershkovich and other Americans detained in Russia were caught up in the most serious crisis between Moscow and Washington in more than 60 years.
President Vladimir Putin said Russia is open to the idea of a prisoner exchange involving Gershkovich and that contacts with the United States have occurred but must remain secret.
The US accused Russia of conducting “hostage diplomacy”. He has designated Gershkovich and another arrested American, Paul Whelan, as “wrongfully detained” and says he is committed to bringing them home.
The US embassy statement said Russian authorities did not provide evidence to support the accusations against Gershkovich or explain why his work as a journalist constituted a crime.
The trial takes place in the city of Yekaterinburg, where agents of the FSB security service arrested Gershkovich on March 29, 2023, while he was eating at a steakhouse. Since then, he has spent almost 16 months in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison.
The Wall Street Journal declined to comment on the purpose of its reporting trip to Russia’s Ural region or on prosecutors’ specific allegation that Gershkovich was trying to gather information about Uralvagonzavod, a supplier of tanks for Russia’s war in Ukraine. .
“He was there as a credentialed journalist, doing his job,” Wall Street Journal editor Almar Latour told Reuters in a telephone interview before the trial.
Many Western news organizations withdrew personnel from Russia after Putin sent his army into Ukraine in February 2022. Russia then passed laws establishing long prison sentences for “discrediting” the military or spreading “fake news” about they.
Gershkovich was one of the few Western reporters, including Reuters journalists, who continued to report from within Russia.
Another journalist, Russian-American Alsu Kurmasheva, was arrested last year and is awaiting trial on charges of violating Russia’s “foreign agent” law and spreading false information about the military, which she denies.
Earlier this month, a French investigator, Laurent Vinatier, was arrested and charged with failing to register as a foreign agent while gathering information about the Russian military.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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