Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovichwas in a Russian court Thursday for the second hearing in his spy trial. He’s been imprisoned in Russia for over a year and is considered by the U.S. government and WSJ to be wrongfully detained. File photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA-EFE
Imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich appeared in a Russian court Thursday for the second hearing in his spying trial.
Gershkovich attended the closed-door hearing in person, according to the court’s press service Advertisement
After the hearing, the court said it had concluded investigation of the evidence and was prepared to move to closing arguments.
Thursday’s hearing was originally scheduled to take place on Aug. 13 but was postponed at the request of the defense.
Gerskovich is the first American journalist to face espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War and has spent more than a year in prison. The United States and the Wall Street Journal consider him wrongfully detained by Russia.
Russia’s FSB claims Gershkovich, “on instructions from the CIA,” and under the guise of journalistic activity, allegedly collected information about Russian military company Ralvagonzavod, which produces and repairs military equipment.
The WSJ reporter was arrested in March 2023. If convicted he faces 20 years in prison.
The U.S. government accuses Russia of jailing Gershkovich and other Americans and Western citizens to use them as potential bargaining chips to swap them for Russians imprisoned abroad. Advertisement
President Joe Biden said in a statement in June that “journalism is not a crime, and Evan went to Russia to do his job as a reporter -risking his safety to shine the light of truth on Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine.”
Russian authorities have suggested a possible swap for Gershkovich but only after a verdict in the case.
The hearing is happening while talks between Russian and American officials about possible prisoner exchanges continue.
In June WSJ Deborah Ball, deputy world coverage chief, called Gershkovich’s Russian trial a “bogus process.”
“It’s outrageous and outlandish,” she said. “Evan will not enjoy any of the due process that we would expect in any Western court. It will be closed-door. It will be secret.”
