Russian court extends WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich’s detention

WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich has been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison since March 29 last year, on an allegation that he, the Journal and the US government vehemently deny.

US journalist Evan Gershkovich inside a defendants' cage during a hearing on the extension of his pre-trial detention, in Moscow. Picture: AFP.

A Russian court extended the detention of Evan Gershkovich by three months, almost a year to the day since The Wall Street Journal reporter became the first US journalist to be detained there on an allegation of espionage since the end of the Cold War.

The 32-year-old reporter, whom the U.S. government deems wrongfully detained, has been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison since March 29 last year, on an allegation that he, the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny.

In a closed hearing at the Moscow City Court, a judge granted the request of investigators from the Federal Security Service, or FSB, that Gershkovich remain behind bars awaiting trial until June 30.

Russian law allows investigators up to a year in criminal cases deemed particularly complex to prepare for a trial, but grants further extensions in exceptional circumstances.

Tuesday’s ruling, the fifth extension of Gershkovich’s detention, comes ahead of the one-year mark of his detainment on Friday and amid efforts by the Biden administration to secure his release. The U.S. government says Gershkovich has never worked for it and isn’t a spy.

U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy said outside the court that Gershkovich remained remarkably resilient but his continued detention was “particularly painful” given that this week marks a year since he was detained.

“The accusations against Evan are categorically untrue. They are not a different interpretation of circumstances. They are fiction,” she said.

Gershkovich’s detention is “not about evidence, due process or rule of law,” Tracy said. It is about “using American citizens as pawns to achieve political ends,” she added.

The Wall Street Journal said in a statement, “It’s a ruling that ensures Evan will sit in a Russian prison well past one year. It was also Evan’s 12th court appearance, baseless proceedings that falsely portray him as something other than what he is – a journalist who was doing his job. He should never have been detained. Journalism is not a crime, and we continue to demand his immediate release.” Russian investigators haven’t publicly presented evidence for their allegation against Gershkovich. Moscow has said it is acting in accordance with its laws. Most of the court proceedings have taken place behind closed doors.

Last week, Jason Conti, general counsel for Journal publisher Dow Jones, told a panel hosted by the National Press Club in Washington that the U.S. government should consider immediate consequences, including sanctions, against authoritarian countries that wrongfully detain reporters.

The Biden administration sanctioned the FSB about a month after Gershkovich, who was accredited by Russia’s Foreign Ministry to work as a journalist, was detained during a reporting trip in Russia. The sanctions were in the works before Gershkovich’s detention, senior administration officials said at the time, with President Biden saying the move would apply further pressure on Russia.

Gershkovich’s designation as wrongfully detained commits the U.S. government to work to secure his release. He and Paul Whelan, a Michigan corporate-security executive serving a 16-year sentence for espionage in a Russian penal colony, are the only Americans categorised by the State Department as wrongfully detained in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin, who was re-elected for a fifth term earlier this month, indicated in February that he would be open to a prisoner swap for Gershkovich if Moscow and Washington reached an agreement. Putin declined to give a time frame for a deal and didn’t specify who Moscow was demanding in return for Gershkovich. But he made clear reference to Russian operative Vadim Krasikov, now serving a life sentence in Germany for gunning down a Chechen émigré in a Berlin park in 2019.

Days after Putin’s remarks, associates of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic penal colony in February, said a proposal to trade him and two unnamed American citizens held by Moscow for Krasikov had been under discussion.

Putin told a news conference earlier this month that, days before Navalny died, he had agreed to exchange him with prisoners in the West, on the condition that the opposition politician – the Kremlin leader’s most potent critic – never return to Russia.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan later told reporters that U.S. officials had never heard a Russian official “raise Navalny as part of a prisoner swap” in any conversations between the two sides. Relations between Washington and Moscow have deteriorated starkly since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

The Kremlin didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Sullivan said there are continuous efforts to secure the release of both Gershkovich and Whelan and the U.S. government had “not slackened one inch in our zeal to get the two of them out,” he said.

The White House has also called for the release of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who was taken into custody in October and later charged with failing to register as a foreign agent. She was subsequently also charged with spreading false information about Russia’s military. State Department officials have said Russia has brought baseless charges against Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen. The U.S. is closely monitoring her detention but hasn’t reached a decision on whether she is being wrongfully detained, a State Department official said.

The Moscow City Court has rejected several appeals by Gershkovich’s lawyers, at least one of which requested that he be transferred to house arrest, agree to constraints on his movements or be granted bail. The reporter’s initial pre-trial detention was scheduled to expire on May 29 last year.

Under Russian law, investigators and prosecutors have wide latitude to request further extensions of detention before the case goes to trial. A conviction for espionage can carry a prison sentence of 10 to 20 years. It is rare for a court to acquit a defendant in such cases.

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