Russia sentences them to 18 years: The Wall Street Journal reporter
The Russian judiciary convicted The Wall Street Journal reporter, according to a verdict issued on Friday, July 19.
Evan Gershkovich is the first American journalist arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War.
The Wall Street Journal reporter has been convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in prison by a Russian court.
In this case, the U.S. government, his newspaper and its supporters, have denounced as a farce.
The Yekaterinburg court announced the guilty verdict and sentence on Friday shortly after 3 p.m. local time (8 a.m. ET).
It emerged Friday that Russia was seeking an 18-year prison sentence for The Wall Street Journal reporter, state news agency TASS quoted the court as saying.
The court heard final arguments and Gershkovich delivered his closing remarks behind closed doors Friday morning.
Russia sentences them to 18 years: The Wall Street Journal reporter
The swift closure of the case comes just weeks after Gershkovich first appeared in a glass cage with a freshly shaved head at the start of his trial on June 26.
On that day, Gershkovich stood, folding his arms, occasionally smiling and waving to the crowd of reporters.
Gershkovich was arrested while reporting for The Wall Street Journal during a trip to Yekaterinburg in March 2023.
The Wall Street Journal reporter was subsequently charged with spying for the CIA. Russian authorities never publicly offered any evidence to back up their claims.
Two weeks after his arrest in March 2023, the U.S. State Department called him wrongfully detained and called for his immediate release.
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In a statement Thursday, his employer said he had been wrongfully arrested.
“Evan’s wrongful detention has been a scandal since his unjust arrest 477 days ago, and it must end now,” said WSJ editor Dow Jones.
After his arrest, Gershkovich was held in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo prison, where he spent almost every waking hour in a small cell.
He spent his time writing letters to friends and family, his parents said in an interview with WSJ, adding that he was only allowed to walk for an hour a day.
In their indictment, Russian prosecutors said that “under instructions from the CIA” and “using meticulous conspiratorial methods,” Gershkovich “was gathering secret information” about a Russian tank factory.
