FALSELY imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will remain in prison on bogus espionage charges, a Russian court has ruled.
The 32-year-old US citizen was cruelly detained in late March 2023 while on a reporting trip and has spent over a year behind bars without a trial.
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Authorities have routinely extended his time behind bars and rejected his appeals – meaning he has now spent over 365 days in prison.
His pretrial detention was continued yet again until June 30 in a ruling that he and his lawyers challenged.
In the courtroom on Tuesday, brave Gerhskovich, wearing a white T-shirt and an open checked shirt, looked relaxed, at times laughing and chatting with members of his legal team.
He gave a heroic thumbs up as he appeared behind a glass screen for his latest appeal to be rejected with no date set for a trial.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Gershkovich replied “all clear” when asked by the judge whether he understood the court’s decision.
The newspaper said in a statement: “It continues to be outrageous that Evan has been wrongfully detained by the Russian government for more than a year.
“Evans’ freedom is long overdue, and we urge the (Biden) administration to do everything in their power to secure his release.”
His arrest in the city of Yekaterinburg rattled journalists in Russia, where authorities have not detailed what if any, evidence they have to support the trumped up espionage charges.
Putin’s spy service alleged that the reporter, acting on the instructions of the US, collected secret information about a Russian military-industrial complex.
Gershkovich and the Wall Street Journal have vehemently denied the allegations, and the US government has declared him to be wrongfully detained.
He has been held for more than a year at Moscow’s high-security Lefortovo prison, which is closely associated with Putin’s FSB.
Experts have pointed out that Moscow is using jailed Americans as bargaining chips in soaring tensions with the US over the Ukraine war.
In December, the US State Department said it had made a significant offer to secure the release of Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, another American imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges, which it said Moscow had rejected.
Timeline of Gershkovich’s detainment
FALSELY jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been detained on baseless accusations of espionage since March, 2023.
Here is a timeline of key events:
Day 1: March 29, 2023 – Gershkovich, who was an approved journalist working in Russia, was arrested on a reporting trip to the Urals.
Russia’s security service, the FSB, charged him with espionage – a charge that he, the WSJ and the US government deny.
They argue – without evidence – that he collected “information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.”
Day 12: April 10, 2023 – The US designated Gershkovich wrongfully detained and launched effort on Russia to free him.
Day 20: April 18, 2023 – A Moscow court upheld his pre-trial detention, denied him bail and ordered him to be held in the capital’s infamous Lefortovo prison.
Day 55: May 23, 2023 – Gershkovich’s detention was extended until at least August 30.
His parents, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich, travelled to the hearing and said “any parents who lives their kid would travel to the end of the world to be with them for give minutes.”
Day 76: June 13, 2023 – The White House called on Russia to immediately free Gershkovich and also free former US marine Paul Whelan, who was convicted of espionage in 2020.
Day 85: June 22, 2023 – A Moscow court upheld the extension of Gershkovich’s detention until at least August 30.
Day 100: July 7, 2023 – The world’s press stood for solidarity with the reporter as his shameful detention reached 100 days.
Day 174: September, 19, 2023 – Gershkovich had another appeal for freedom blocked.
Day 195: October 10, 2023 – The US reporter had yet another appeal denied which would see his detention extended until at least November 30.
Day 244: November 28, 2023 – A court ruled Gershkovich would remain in pre-trial detention until at least January 30.
Day 303: January 26, 2024 – The innocent journalist’s time behind bars was extended until the end of March.
Day 316: February 8, 2024 – Vladimir Putin tells US TV host Tucker Carlson a deal could be reached between Russia and the US over Gershkovich.
Day 363: March 26, 2024: Gershkovich’s detention will drag on until June 30 as he nears one year behind bars.
He is the first Western reporter to be jailed on espionage charges in Russia since the Soviet era, and he faces a prison term of up to 20 years if convicted.
President Joe Biden said last month on the anniversary of Gershkovich’s arrest: “We will continue to denounce and impose costs for Russia’s appalling attempts to use Americans as bargaining chips.”
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