Russian court rejects appeal to release WSJ journalist Evan Gershkovich

A Moscow court on Thursday ruled that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich must remain in jail on espionage charges until at least late August, rejecting the American journalist’s appeal to be released.

Gershkovich, 31, is the son of Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union, and has been in Russia’s Lefortovo prison since late March. He is being held on an allegation of espionage that he, The Wall Street Journal and the US government deny.

He was arrested in late March while on a reporting trip. A Moscow court ruled last month to keep him in custody until August 30, but his lawyers had challenged the decision.

Gershkovich, wearing a black T-shirt and light blue jeans, looked tense and paced inside a glass defendant’s cage while waiting for the hearing to begin at the Moscow City Court. Then other journalists in the courtroom were asked to leave and the proceedings took place behind closed doors.

The ruling was broadcast to reporters, who watched it on two large TV screens in a separate room in the courthouse.

While waiting for the judge, Gershkovich smiled and chatted with his parents, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich, who were present. US Ambassador Lynne Tracy also attended.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom at the Moscow City Court in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, June 22, 2023. (AP/Dmitry Serebryakov)

“Evan continued to show remarkable strength and resiliency in these very difficult circumstances,” she told reporters afterward.

Tracy said she was “extremely disappointed” by the ruling, reiterating that Gershkovich was “an innocent journalist” and Russia’s charges against him were baseless.

“Such hostage diplomacy is unacceptable, and we call on the Russian Federation to release him,” she said.

Gershkovich’s parents, who left the Soviet Union in 1979 previously visited their son in May.

“I am just happy to see him, and very, very sad to leave him,” Milman told The Wall Street Journal after the hearing concluded Thursday. “The heavy feeling is not leaving me.”

Danielle Gershkovich, Evan’s sister, remained in the US and watched the decision unfold over video.

“There’s always a little bit of hope when these things happen, but we understand we’re in it for the long haul,” Danielle Gershkovich told The Wall Street Journal. “We’re all living in a place where we have to adjust our expectations, sometimes moment to moment.”

If convicted, Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in a Russian penal colony.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is escorted by officers from the Lefortovsky court to a bus, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, March 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

His arrest in the city of Yekaterinburg rattled journalists in Russia, where authorities have not detailed what, if any, evidence they have to support the espionage charges.

Gershkovich is being held at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, which is notorious for its harsh conditions. Tracy said the US Embassy was denied consular access to Gershkovich on three occasions since she last visited him in jail in April.

The Wall Street Journal said in a statement after the hearing that Gershkovich “has been wrongfully detained for more than 12 weeks for nothing more than doing his job as a journalist,” and it again called for his immediate release.

Gershkovich and his employer have denied the allegations against him, and the US government has declared him to be wrongfully detained.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters the ministry is considering another visit request from the US embassy.

Analysts have pointed out that Moscow may be using jailed Americans as bargaining chips in soaring US-Russian tensions over the Kremlin’s military operation in Ukraine. At least two US citizens arrested in Russia in recent years — including WNBA star Brittney Griner — have been exchanged for Russians jailed in the US.

Ryabkov has cautioned, however, that the possibility of a swap in Gershkovich’s case “could only be considered after a court delivers its verdict.” Prominent lawyers who worked on espionage cases told The Associated Press that the investigation alone could take up to 18 months.

Gershkovich is the first American journalist arrested in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the Cold War. His detainment has attracted interest and support from Jews and Jewish organizations around the world who have pushed for his release, sometimes invoking symbols of freedom for Soviet Jews used in the 1960s.

Last week, the US House of Representatives passed a unanimous resolution calling on Russia to free the journalist.