Moscow court rejects reporter’s appeal to be freed from prison
MOSCOW — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will remain imprisoned on espionage charges until at least late June, after a Moscow court on Tuesday rejected his appeal that sought to end his pretrial detention.
The 32-year-old U.S. citizen was detained in late March 2023 while on a reporting trip and has spent over a year in custody, with authorities routinely extending his time behind bars and rejecting his appeals. Last month, his pretrial detention was continued yet again — until June 30 — in a ruling that he and his lawyers later challenged. A Moscow appellate court rejected it Tuesday.
In the courtroom on Tuesday, Mr. Gershkovich looked relaxed, at times laughing and chatting with members of his legal team.
His arrest in the city of Yekaterinburg rattled journalists in Russia, where authorities have not detailed any evidence they have to support the espionage charges. Mr. Gershkovich and his employer have denied the allegations, and the U.S. government has declared him to be wrongfully detained.
Analysts have pointed out that Moscow may be using
jailed Americans as bargaining chips in soaring U.S.Russian tensions over the Kremlin’s military operation in Ukraine. At least two U.S. citizens arrested in Russia in recent years — including WNBA star Brittney Griner — have been exchanged for Russians jailed in the U.S.
In December, the U.S. State Department said it had made a significant offer to secure the release of Mr. Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, another American imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges, which it said Moscow had rejected.
Officials did not describe the offer, although Russia has been said to be seeking the release of Vadim
Krasikov, who was given a life sentence in Germany in 2021 for the killing in Berlin of Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, a 40-year-old Georgian citizen of Chechen descent who had fought Russian troops in Chechnya and later claimed asylum in Germany.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, asked this year about releasing Mr. Gershkovich, appeared to refer to Krasikov by pointing to a man imprisoned by a U.S. ally for “liquidating a bandit” who had allegedly killed Russian soldiers during separatist fighting in Chechnya.
Beyond that hint, Russian officials have kept mum about the talks.