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Wall Street Journal Reporter Loses Appeal Against Pretrial Detention in Russia.
A Russian court upheld the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on Tuesday, denying his lawyers’ latest appeal to free him since he was taken into custody during a reporting trip in Russia.
Gershkovich, a 31-year-old U.S. citizen who was accredited by Russia’s Foreign Ministry to work as a journalist, was detained by agents from the Federal Security Service on March 29. He is being held on an allegation of espionage that he, the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny. Washington has said Gershkovich isn’t a spy and has never worked for the government.
Before the start of Tuesday’s hearing, Gershkovich stood inside a transparent box, typically used to hold defendants. He wore jeans and a shirt covering a white T-shirt and shuffled through several sheets of paper in his hands.
Dow Jones, the Journal’s parent company, condemned the court’s decision but said it was expected.
“It has now been more than six months since Evan’s unjust arrest, and we are outraged that he continues to be wrongfully detained,” a company spokeswoman said. “The accusation against him is categorically false, and we call for his immediate release.”
Almar Latour, chief executive of Dow Jones and publisher of the Journal, and Emma Tucker, editor in chief of the Journal, said in a joint statement that the company “will not rest until [Gershkovich] is home.”
The court has denied previous 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. Last month, a Moscow city court declined to consider the latest appeal against his pretrial detention, citing procedural irregularities, and put the hearing back to Tuesday.
Gershkovich’s initial pretrial detention was scheduled to expire on May 29, but has since been extended until Nov. 30. Gershkovich’s lawyers in August appealed that extension of his detention.
The U.S. government has classified Gershkovich, the first American journalist to be charged with espionage in Russia since the end of the Cold War, as wrongfully detained and called for his immediate release. The designation unlocked a broad U.S. government effort to exert pressure on Russia to free him.
Legal experts say it could be many months before Gershkovich’s case is brought to trial.
Russian authorities haven’t publicly provided evidence to support the allegation.
Under Russian law, investigators and prosecutors have wide latitude to request further extensions of pretrial detention. Espionage trials are typically conducted in secret and conviction could carry a prison sentence of 10 to 20 years. It is rare for a court to acquit a defendant.
Tuesday’s hearing was attended by Stephanie Holmes, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. She didn’t make any remarks following the session.
In a message posted later on its Telegram channel, the embassy said it was “disappointed that the appeal to extend [Gershkovich’s] detention has again been rejected,” adding that “Evan must be released.”
Gershkovich’s case has garnered international attention and bipartisan support in the U.S. House of Representatives, which in June voted unanimously to approve a resolution calling on Russia to immediately free Gershkovich and demanding that Moscow provide the reporter unconstrained access to U.S. consular officials during his imprisonment.
Last month, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a resolution pressing Russia to release Gershkovich as he completed six months in detention. The Senate resolution, led by Sen. Jim Risch (R., Idaho), the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.), who is stepping in as temporary chairman of the panel, called on Moscow to release Gershkovich immediately and urged the Biden administration to continue to take up his case in all interactions with the Russian government.
The resolution also urged Russia to provide “full, unfettered, and consistent consular access” to Gershkovich while he remains in detention. More than two dozen senators signed on as co-sponsors.
Several Russian lawmakers mocked the resolution, describing it as simply procedural and saying it would fall on deaf ears in Russia.
“The actions of American senators are in no way capable of influencing the decisions that are made in our country in accordance with the legislation and international obligations of the Russian Federation,” Dmitry Belik, a member of the foreign-affairs committee at the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
U.S. officials say they are engaging with officials in countries holding Russian citizens in custody and are open to incorporating those prisoners in a deal to free Gershkovich and other Americans detained in Russia.
The Pulse of Washington D.C.
