Cheng Lei pens heartfelt letter to detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich

Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who endured three years in a Beijing jail, has written a heartfelt letter to detained WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich, urging him to ‘stay strong’.

Cheng Lei’s message to detained WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich.

News presenter Cheng Lei, who endured three years in a Beijing jail, has penned a heartfelt letter to imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, urging him to retain hope that he will soon be released.

Cheng, who was set free in October, sent her letter to Gershkovich last week, sharing her story of how she managed to cope during her incarceration, along with messages of optimism for the 32-year-old American’s future.

Gershkovich was detained by Russian authorities in Yekaterinburg, about 1600km east of Moscow, on March 29 last year on espionage charges. As the first anniversary of his imprisonment at Lefortovo prison approaches, it remains unclear when he will be ­released.

In the 750-word letter seen by The Australian, Cheng tells Gershkovich of her hesitation in writing to him, but said receiving correspondence from her friends helped her cope during her time in jail.

“It’s weird writing to you, a bit cold-call, a bit not knowing if you need/want to be written to by a fellow journo/ex-detainee, a bit unsure what would raise the authorities’ ire and hence get the missive blocked from you,” Cheng said.

“What I do is remember how I used to love letters from friends, so I could live vicariously through them, so I could superimpose the imagery of certain scenes on the mind to relieve the tedium of grey walls, so I could start fresh trains of thought and discussion with cellmates, so I could scrabble at the walls of isolation and peep into the living world.”

US journalist Evan Gershkovich, right, is escorted out of the Lefortovsky Court building in Moscow last month. Picture: AFP

Representatives from News Corporation (publishers of The Wall Street Journal and The Australian) are continuing to work around the clock to advocate for Gershkovich’s release, led by the WSJ’s assistant editor Paul Beckett, who is based in Washington D.C.

Cheng, 48, told Gershkovich that she was looking forward to the day when the pair would meet. “I hope to see you soon so we can swap war stories and I could cook a huge dinner for you.

“Challenge me with complex requests, I love it!”

Earlier this month Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview with US broadcaster Tucker Carlson, said he believed a deal could be reached to free the WSJ journalist.

“The special services are in contact with one another. They are talking … I believe an agreement can be reached,” he said.  Gershkovich had his pre-trial detention extended until the end of March. If found guilty he could face 20 years behind bars.

Cheng told Gershkovich that the hardship he was enduring was something few people would ever understand.

“Nobody knows fully what the detainee is going through, it’s a lonely journey,” she said. “Nobody can truly help the detainee, it has to be a self-help program.

“That being said, the detainee has so little, so a little (beauty, kindness, truth) goes a long way.  

“To know more, learn more, communicate more, had certainly been my biggest wish.”

Journalist Cheng Lei.

Cheng said that after her release, she could not believe how quickly life had turned around for her, particularly after she was reunited with her two children, aged 12 and 14, her parents, and her partner, Nick Coyle.

Cheng told Gershkovich to not give up hope on returning to journalism – which she had done herself – once he was released from prison.

“Tomorrow I’m working the afternoon show on Sky News, this after the people who so hospitably housed me for three years told me my life was pretty much finished, (and) not to mention the old sinful career of journalism,” she said.

“If we don’t become better and stronger from this, then what was the suffering for?”

Cheng, who was named The Australian’s 2023 Australian of Year, told Gershkovich that books helped get her through lonely and anxious times in jail, and she asked him to name his favourite books.

“In two weeks I’ll get to meet my favourite Chinese author Lung Ying-tai … she responded to my email where I told her how much her books lit up our lives in the cell,” Cheng wrote. “Others whose books were a source of strength have also replied to my emails and I love that they got a taste of what they gave to me – like currents of warmth.”

Australian writer Yang Hengjun was also accused of espionage and detained in China in 2019 and earlier this month he was given a suspended death sentence. It may be reduced to life in prison if he abides by good behaviour orders.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was “outraged” by the sentence.

“We have conveyed, firstly, to China our dismay, our despair, our frustration, but to put it really simply our outrage at this verdict,” he said.

“We have said very clearly that we will co-operate with China where we can, but we will disagree where we must.

“We must disagree with this harsh action.”