U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich’s espionage trial in Russia begins
2024-06-25T14:12:14.768ZWall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who stands trial on spying charges, is seen inside an enclosure for defendants before a court hearing in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on Wednesday. (Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters)The trial of American journalist Evan Gershkovich began in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on Wednesday, 15 months after he was arrested and charged with espionage while on a reporting trip.The case marks the first time since the Cold War that an American journalist has faced an espionage trial.Russian prosecutors, announcing earlier this month that they had finalized an indictment, said in a statement that they had “established and documented” that Gershkovich had “collected secret information” about the Uralvagonzavod military factory in the Sverdlovsk region in Russia while “on assignment from the CIA.”Gershkovich, the White House and his employer, the Wall Street Journal, have deemed the charges baseless. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.Gershkovich, 32, a U.S. citizen who has worked as an accredited journalist in Russia for more than six years, had remained in pretrial detention at the Lefortovo prison in Moscow after his arrest in March 2023.His case was transferred this month to a court in Yekaterinburg, where Gershkovich was initially arrested, and he was moved to a detention center in the city. As is typical for espionage cases in Russia, the trial will remain closed to the public and is expected to last several months.Last year, the State Department declared Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018 on similar charges, to be wrongfully detained, a designation that commits the federal government to work for their release. The Kremlin has signaled that it is open to the possibility of trading Gershkovich for Russian nationals jailed abroad once a verdict is delivered.President Vladimir Putin told American right-wing talk show host Tucker Carlson in February during his first interview with a Western media figure since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine that “an agreement can be reached” with the United States to release Gershkovich.In a statement ahead of Wednesday’s trial, Wall Street Journal editor in chief Emma Tucker described the case as “a travesty of justice that already has gone on for far too long.”“When his case comes before a judge this week, it will not be a trial as we understand it, with a presumption of innocence and a search for the truth,” she wrote. “It will be held in secret. No evidence has been unveiled. And we already know the conclusion: This bogus accusation of espionage will inevitably lead to a bogus conviction for an innocent man who would then face up to 20 years in prison for simply doing his job. And an excellent job he was doing, at that.”
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The trial of American journalist Evan Gershkovich began in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on Wednesday, 15 months after he was arrested and charged with espionage while on a reporting trip.
The case marks the first time since the Cold War that an American journalist has faced an espionage trial.
Russian prosecutors, announcing earlier this month that they had finalized an indictment, said in a statement that they had “established and documented” that Gershkovich had “collected secret information” about the Uralvagonzavod military factory in the Sverdlovsk region in Russia while “on assignment from the CIA.”
Gershkovich, the White House and his employer, the Wall Street Journal, have deemed the charges baseless. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
Gershkovich, 32, a U.S. citizen who has worked as an accredited journalist in Russia for more than six years, had remained in pretrial detention at the Lefortovo prison in Moscow after his arrest in March 2023.
His case was transferred this month to a court in Yekaterinburg, where Gershkovich was initially arrested, and he was moved to a detention center in the city. As is typical for espionage cases in Russia, the trial will remain closed to the public and is expected to last several months.
Last year, the State Department declared Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018 on similar charges, to be wrongfully detained, a designation that commits the federal government to work for their release. The Kremlin has signaled that it is open to the possibility of trading Gershkovich for Russian nationals jailed abroad once a verdict is delivered.
President Vladimir Putin told American right-wing talk show host Tucker Carlson in February during his first interview with a Western media figure since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine that “an agreement can be reached” with the United States to release Gershkovich.
In a statement ahead of Wednesday’s trial, Wall Street Journal editor in chief Emma Tucker described the case as “a travesty of justice that already has gone on for far too long.”
“When his case comes before a judge this week, it will not be a trial as we understand it, with a presumption of innocence and a search for the truth,” she wrote. “It will be held in secret. No evidence has been unveiled. And we already know the conclusion: This bogus accusation of espionage will inevitably lead to a bogus conviction for an innocent man who would then face up to 20 years in prison for simply doing his job. And an excellent job he was doing, at that.”
