Russian prosecutors seek 18-year sentence for American reporter
The verdict in the closed-door trial of the falsely accused Evan Gershkovich will come within hours.
Russian prosecutors on Friday sought an 18-year prison sentence in a high-security penal colony for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich after falsely accusing him of spying. During a brief appearance in a courthouse hallway, a court spokeswoman said the verdict would come within hours. “The defendant did not admit guilt,” she added.
Gershkovich, the Journal and the US government have vehemently and repeatedly denied the allegation against him.
The Yekaterinburg court is widely expected to convict Gershkovich, as acquittals in Russian espionage cases are exceedingly rare. Gershkovich was tried in a secret proceeding over three days in which he received few of the protections accorded to defendants in the US and other Western countries.
Russian authorities have produced no public evidence to support their allegations. Gershkovich is expected to be sentenced soon.
“This fake, sham legal process that we are seeing play out has no bearing on the urgency that we have placed on seeking a release of Evan’s detention and seeking a release for Paul Whelan as well. And we’ll continue to work that process tirelessly,” Vedant Patel, deputy spokesman for the State Department, said Thursday.
Gershkovich, a 32-year-old US citizen, has been imprisoned in Russia since March of last year, when the country’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, arrested him while he was on a reporting assignment in Yekaterinburg, around 1450km east of Moscow.
He was present in court on Thursday, the court spokeswoman said, but no media were allowed to see him
In June, Russian prosecutors approved an indictment of Gershkovich, falsely alleging that he was gathering information about a Russian defence contractor on behalf of the CIA.
In fact, Gershkovich, who was accredited as a foreign correspondent by Russian authorities, was in Yekaterinburg and elsewhere in the Sverdlovsk region for the sole purpose of reporting for the Journal.
In a hearing last month, Gershkovich appeared in a padlocked, transparent box in the Yekaterinburg courtroom. His head was shaven, as required by prison authorities.
The court’s spokeswoman said on Thursday that the court was “looking at evidence in the case” and witnesses had been cross-examined during the around six-hour hearing.
“Evan’s wrongful detention has been an outrage since his unjust arrest 477 days ago, and it must end now,” the Journal said in a statement.
“Even as Russia orchestrates its shameful sham trial, we continue to do everything we can to push for Evan’s immediate release and to state unequivocally: Evan was doing his job as a journalist, and journalism is not a crime. Bring him home now.”
The US embassy in Moscow said in a statement on Telegram on Thursday that the Kremlin’s continued attempts to crack down on dissent and journalists were troubling.
“Like Paul Whelan, who has been imprisoned for more than five and a half years, Evan has remained steadfast despite his circumstances,” the embassy said. Whelan is another American the US has designated as wrongfully detained in Russia.
“The United States continues to work for the release of both Evan and Paul and their return to their families. People are not bargaining chips. The Kremlin should stop unlawful detentions for political blackmail and release Evan and Paul immediately,” it added.
Mr Whelan, a retired Marine, is serving a 16-year sentence following conviction on espionage charges that he, his family and the US government say are false.
Russia has signalled that it would be open to freeing Gershkovich in exchange for Russians detained in the West.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has clearly suggested that Russia would trade Gershkovich for Vadim Krasikov, an FSB operative now serving a life sentence in Germany for killing a Chechen emigre in Berlin in 2019.
The Biden administration has said that it is working for the release of Gershkovich and Whelan. It has declined to comment on the state of any talks with Moscow.
Basketball star Brittney Griner and Trevor Reed, both Americans who were imprisoned in Russia, were traded separately in 2022 for Russians convicted of crimes in the US.
On Wednesday, Roger D. Carstens, the US’s special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, told the Aspen Security Forum that the return of Griner and Reed demonstrated that there was a way to talk to the Russians.
“But getting into the details, as much as in a way everyone would love it and I would actually be interested in telling you, I can’t, ” Mr Carstens said.
Last month, John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, described the proceedings against Gershkovich as a “sham trial”. He said Gershkovich “is simply being used as a bargaining chip”, along with Mr Whelan.
Before the start of the trial, Gershkovich had been detained in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, where Russia has held political prisoners since the days of the Soviet Union. He was moved to Yekaterinburg for his trial.
For more than a year, Gershkovich’s legal team has appealed against his detention, lodging requests that he be transferred to house arrest, agree to constraints on his movements or be granted bail. Those requests have been denied.
“We try to be careful about saying, you know it’s going in the right direction,” Mr Carstens added Wednesday.
“What I would leave you with is this: I know Evan and Paul will come home to the United States and step onto US soil. I just don’t know when.”
Kate Vtorygina contributed to this article.
The Wall Street Journal
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