A Russian court has convicted U.S. citizen and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on espionage charges and sentenced him to 16 years in prison.
“The court established and documented that American journalist for The Wall Street Journal Gershkovich, on assignment from the CIA, in March 2023 collected secret information in the Sverdlovsk region about the activities of the defense enterprise JSC NPK Uralvagonzavod for the production and repair of military equipment,” the Office of the Prosecutor General for the Russian Federation said in a Friday, July 19 press statement.
The Russian government office the 16-year sentence was in line with their sentencing requests.
The conviction and sentencing follows three days of closed-door hearings in what the Wall Street Journal and the U.S. government have decried as a wrongful prosecution.
“Regardless of what Russian authorities claim, Evan is a journalist. He did not commit any illegal actions. Russian authorities have been unable to provide evidence that he committed a crime or justification for Evan’s continued detention,” the U.S. Embassy in Moscow said on Thursday, ahead of the verdict.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), detained Gershkovich on March 29, 2023. The Russian authorities accused Gershkovich of gathering sensitive information on a Russian tank production facility.
Gershkovich’s last article before his arrest alleged signs of economic regression within Russia. The article, at points, focused on Russia’s efforts to boost production of military vehicles and equipment. The Wall Street Journal published the article on March 28, 2023, one day before Gershkovich’s arrest.
“This disgraceful, sham conviction comes after Evan has spent 478 days in prison, wrongfully detained, away from his family and friends, prevented from reporting, all for doing his job as a journalist,” Almar Latour, the chief executive of Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, and Wall Street Journal Editor in Chief Emma Tucker said in a statement following the Friday verdict.
Gershkovich is one of several Americans being held by the Russian government.
Russia has detained retired U.S. Marine Paul Whelan since December of 2018. Much like Gershkovich’s case, Russian authorities arrested and charged Whelan with spying, even as the U.S. government insisted he was being wrongfully detained. A Russian court found Whelan guilty in July 2020, and sentenced him to 16 years in prison.
U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel declined to provide specifics, at a July 18 press briefing, about negotiations for the release of detained U.S. citizens, but said the U.S. government is seeking to free Gershkovich and Whelan.
This article was originally published by FreeBase News and is reprinted with permission.
