Wall Street Journal denounces Russia's "sham conviction" of journalist Evan Gershkovich

By Gelet Martínez Fragela

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was falsely accused of spying on Russia last year, was sentenced to 16 years in a high-security penal colony, after being vigorously prosecuted in a secret trial that has been condemned by U.S. government officials as a sham.

The Russian court’s verdict was announced Friday morning, just hours after the nation was focused on close of the Republican National Convention.

The Gershkovich trial has been widely viewed as one sided since acquittals in Russian espionage trials are almost non-existence, and since his arrest, the Journal reporter has been given few accommodations usually afforded to defendants in Western democracies. He has had trace contact with his family, lawyers and U.S. officials.

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After reading the conviction was read in court, the judge asked Gershkovich if he understood the conviction, and Gershkovich, standing in a glass cage used for defendants in Russian courts, responded with a quick wave and a nod before he was remanded for custody.

“This disgraceful, sham conviction comes after 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,” wrote Wall Street Journal Editor in Chief Emma Tucker andAlmar Latour, the CEO of Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, and said in a statement.

“We will continue to do everything possible to press for Evan’s release and to support his family,” they said. “Journalism is not a crime, and we will not rest until he’s released. This must end now.”

The Journal was also quick to point out that the Russian government has not produced any evidence in public to support the regime’s accusations, which Gershkovich, the Journal and U.S. officials have repeatedly denied.

A Russian court spokeswoman said that Gershkovich “did not admit guilt” during the hearing on Friday.

Vladimir Putin’s regime commenced judicial proceedings against Gershkovich quickly after his arrest. His court dates were expedited by a month amid discussions between Moscow and Washington regarding a possible prisoner exchange.

When asked about the subject on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “I’m leaving that question without an answer,” according to Russian state media. “There is a charge of espionage, so this is a very, very sensitive area.”

Gershkovich, a 32-year-old American citizen and WSJ reporter, has been incarcerated since March of last year, when he was arrested by the country’s Federal Security Service (FSB), while working on a reporting assignment in Yekaterinburg, a city located about 900 miles east of Moscow.

Russian prosecutors charged Gershkovich in June, accusing him of spying on a Russian defense contractor for the CIA. The Journalasserts, however, that Gershkovich, who was accredited as a foreign correspondent by Russian authorities, was in the Russian city and elsewhere in the Sverdlovsk region to report on stories.

His imprisonment has garnered worldwide attention, and the White House has worked diligently to compel Russian officials to release the reporter. His case arose at a particularly tense time between Washington and Moscow amid Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began more than two years ago.

U.S. officials has designated Gershkovich as wrongfully detained, and he is just one of several Americans the government has been trying to get released.

The American government successfully secured the release of Brittney Griner in December 2022 after she was detained on drug charges in February of that year. The basketball athlete was arrested in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport after she was found to be in possession of marijuana.

Shortly after her arrest, she was transferred to a penal colony. She pleaded guilty to the drug charges in August and was released in December 2022 as part of a prisoner exchange of a Russian weapons expert.

Paul Whelan, another American held in Russia has not been so fortunate. Whelan, also designated by the U.S. as wrongfully detained, was sent to a penal colony in 2020 following an espionage conviction. Whelan, a retired U.S. Marine, is currently serving a 16-year sentence.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in June that Gershkovich “is simply being used as a bargaining chip,” along with Whelan.

Gershkovich was previously being held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, an institution with a history of torturing Russian dissidents in the Soviet era. He was subsequently moved to Yekaterinburg during his trial.

The WSJ reported has endured more than a year of imprisonment and pretrial hearings and been denied bail and requests to await trial on house arrest.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has signaled the Kremlin’s potential willingness to an exchange for FSB operative Vadim Krasikov, who is currently serving a life sentence in Germany for killing a Chechen émigré in Berlin in 2019.

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Gelet Martínez Fragela is the founder and editor-in-chief of ADN America. She is a Cuban journalist, television producer, and political refugee who also founded ADN Cuba.

Foto/ Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich | Shutterstock

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