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A Russian court on Friday (July 19) found American journalist Evan Gershkovich guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in a maximum security prison, in what his employer, The Wall Street Journal, called a “shameful false conviction.”
Gershkovich, a 32-year-old American who denies any wrongdoing, went on trial in the city of Yekaterinburg last month on charges he tried to collect sensitive information about the tank factory.
He was the first American journalist to be charged with espionage in Russia since the Cold War, and his arrest in March 2023 prompted many American and other Western journalists to leave Moscow.
US President Biden said that Gershkovic had not committed any crime and was wrongly detained.
“We are working hard to secure Evan’s release and will continue to do so. Journalism is not a crime,” Biden said in a statement.
Video of Friday’s hearing released by the court showed Gershkovic, wearing a T-shirt and black trousers, standing in a glass cage in the courtroom as the verdict was read out in rapid-fire legalese over nearly four minutes.
When the judge asked him if he had any questions, he replied “no”.
Judge Andrei Mineyev said the nearly 16 months Gershkovich has already served since his arrest will be counted toward his 16-year sentence.
Mineyev ordered the destruction of the journalists’ cell phones and paper notebooks. The defense has 15 days to appeal.
“Evan was imprisoned for 478 days for doing his job as a journalist, wrongfully detained, separated from his family and friends, and prohibited from reporting, only to be followed by a shameful and false conviction,” the Journal said in a statement.
“We will continue to do everything we can to press for Evan’s release and support his family. Journalism is not a crime and we will not rest until he is released. This must end now.”
Pjotr Sauer, a friend of Gershkovic and a journalist for the British newspaper The Guardian, posted on X: “Russia has just sentenced an innocent man to 16 years in a maximum security prison. I have no words to describe this farce. Let’s get Evan out.”
Friday’s hearing was only the third trial in the case. Apart from the verdict, the rest of the trial process was not open to the media because it involves state secrets.
Espionage cases typically take months to process, and the trial, which was conducted behind closed doors with unusual speed, has fueled speculation that a long-discussed U.S.-Russian prisoner swap could be imminent, involving Gershkovic and possibly other Americans detained in Russia.
The Kremlin declined to comment earlier on Friday when asked by Reuters whether such a swap was possible. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “I will not answer your question.”
Among those Russia wants freed is Vadim Krasikov, a Russian serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 murder of an exiled Georgian dissident of Chechen descent in a Berlin park.
Officers from the FSB security service arrested Gershkovich at a steakhouse in Yekaterinburg, 900 miles east of Moscow, on March 29, 2023. He has been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison since then.
Russian prosecutors accuse Gershkovich of gathering secret intelligence on the orders of the CIA about a company that was building tanks for Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
Uralvagonzavod, which has been subject to Western sanctions for alleged espionage, is located in Nizhny Tagil near Yekaterinburg and has publicly stated that it will produce T-90M main battle tanks and modernize T-72B3M tanks.
Earlier on Friday, the court unexpectedly said it would announce its verdict within hours after state prosecutors asked for an 18-year prison sentence for espionage, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Russia usually completes legal proceedings against foreigners before entering into any currency exchange agreements with them.
‘Wrongful detention’
Gershkovic, his newspaper and the U.S. government have denied the allegations against him and said he was simply carrying out his duties as a correspondent in Russia accredited by the Foreign Ministry.
President Vladimir Putin said Russia was willing to conduct a prisoner swap for Gershkovich and said Russia and the United States had been in contact but that it had to remain confidential.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that Washington was working every day to bring Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and other Americans home.
Asked why Putin reached a deal on Gershkovic’s release before the U.S. election, he declined to give details.
“Any effort to bring Americans home is going to be a process of back-and-forth and possibly negotiation,” Blinken said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
“Depending on what the other side asks, they’ll come to their own conclusion as to whether this meets their needs and we can bring someone home – I don’t think that’s dependent on an election in the United States or anywhere else,” he said.
U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner called Gershkovich’s sentencing “outrageous” and said he thought it was “clear that the Russians now view Evan almost as a bargaining chip.”
In an interview with Reuters, Warner declined to discuss whether efforts were being made to arrange an exchange for Gershkovic’s release but said “all options must be kept open” about how the Biden administration responds.
Friends who corresponded with Gershkevich said he remained strong and cheerful in prison and passed the time reading Russian literary classics.
During court appearances over the past 16 months — most recently with a shaved head — he often smiled and nodded at reporters who worked with him before he became a news figure.
Since Russian troops entered Ukraine in 2022, Moscow and Washington have conducted only one high-profile prisoner swap: Russia released basketball star Brittney Griner, who was detained for marijuana smuggling, in exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was jailed in the United States for terrorism-related crimes.
Read more by Euractiv
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