Russian court rejects US reporter’s bid for release from detention
No trial date yet for the Wall Street Journal reporter more than six months after his arrest on spying charges
10 October 2023 - 17:16
byGuy Faulconbridge
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Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested in March while on a reporting trip and accused of espionage, is escorted into a court building before a hearing on extending his pre-trial detention, in Moscow, Russia, August 24 2023. Picture: MAXIM SHEMETOV/REUTERS
Moscow — A Russian court on Tuesday dismissed a complaint by US reporter Evan Gershkovich against the extension of his pretrial detention, more than six months after his arrest on spying charges, which he denies.
Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on March 29 in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on charges of espionage. If found guilty he could face up to 20 years in prison.
He is the first US journalist to be detained on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War.
Gershkovich, wearing jeans with a dark shirt over a white T-shirt, smiled quizzically from a glass box in court at journalists who were allowed to photograph him before the closed hearing. FSB officers, some in masks, looked on.
Judge Yuri Pasyunin said the Moscow city court has decided to leave without change an earlier court decision to extend his pretrial detention. “The appeal complaint is left without satisfaction,” Pasyunin said. Reporters were allowed to listen to the court’s decision via a video link in a different part of the courthouse. American diplomats attended the Moscow courthouse.
The decision means that Gershkovich will remain in detention. No date has been set for his trial.
Russia has said Gershkovich was caught “red-handed”. The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said he was trying to obtain military secrets.
The White House has called the charges “ridiculous” and President Joe Biden has said Gershkovich’s detention is “totally illegal”. The Wall Street Journal denies the charges and has called for his immediate release, as has his family.
Russia has yet to make any evidence in the case public. Tuesday’s hearing was closed due to the case containing materials classified as secret.
A fluent Russian speaker born to Soviet émigrés and raised in New Jersey, Gershkovich moved to Moscow in late 2017 to join the English-language Moscow Times, and subsequently worked for the French news agency Agence France-Presse.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, just as Gershkovich was about to return to Russia to join the Wall Steer Journal’s Moscow bureau. It was decided that he would live in London but travel to Russia frequently for reporting trips, as a correspondent accredited with the foreign ministry.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Russian court rejects US reporter’s bid for release from detention
No trial date yet for the Wall Street Journal reporter more than six months after his arrest on spying charges
Moscow — A Russian court on Tuesday dismissed a complaint by US reporter Evan Gershkovich against the extension of his pretrial detention, more than six months after his arrest on spying charges, which he denies.
Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on March 29 in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on charges of espionage. If found guilty he could face up to 20 years in prison.
He is the first US journalist to be detained on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War.
Gershkovich, wearing jeans with a dark shirt over a white T-shirt, smiled quizzically from a glass box in court at journalists who were allowed to photograph him before the closed hearing. FSB officers, some in masks, looked on.
Judge Yuri Pasyunin said the Moscow city court has decided to leave without change an earlier court decision to extend his pretrial detention. “The appeal complaint is left without satisfaction,” Pasyunin said. Reporters were allowed to listen to the court’s decision via a video link in a different part of the courthouse. American diplomats attended the Moscow courthouse.
The decision means that Gershkovich will remain in detention. No date has been set for his trial.
Russia has said Gershkovich was caught “red-handed”. The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said he was trying to obtain military secrets.
The White House has called the charges “ridiculous” and President Joe Biden has said Gershkovich’s detention is “totally illegal”. The Wall Street Journal denies the charges and has called for his immediate release, as has his family.
Russia has yet to make any evidence in the case public. Tuesday’s hearing was closed due to the case containing materials classified as secret.
A fluent Russian speaker born to Soviet émigrés and raised in New Jersey, Gershkovich moved to Moscow in late 2017 to join the English-language Moscow Times, and subsequently worked for the French news agency Agence France-Presse.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, just as Gershkovich was about to return to Russia to join the Wall Steer Journal’s Moscow bureau. It was decided that he would live in London but travel to Russia frequently for reporting trips, as a correspondent accredited with the foreign ministry.
Reuters
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