A Moscow court has extended the arrest of Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich on charges of espionage until November 30, the Russian state news agency reports, citing an official source.
A Moscow court has extended the preventive detention of US journalist Evan Gershkovich, who was detained in Russia at the end of March for alleged “espionage” charges, by a further three months, according to the Russian agency.
“The detention period has been extended by three months (…) until November 30,” the press service of the court in Lefortovski (Moscow) said in a statement.
The journalist denies the accusation.
The press was not allowed to attend Evan Gershkovich’s closed-door hearing on Thursday.
One of the lawyers left the courthouse without comment, an Agence France Presse correspondent said on the spot.
It was foreseeable that the journalist’s detention would be extended, as the Russian justice system rarely releases people detained awaiting trial on espionage charges.
Wall Street Journal journalist Gershkovich was arrested on March 29 by Russian security forces while reporting from Yekaterinburg in the Urals.
The Wall Street Journal, like USA Today, is one of two national newspapers in the United States.
Gershkovitch is in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, which is used by the security services (FSB) to keep prisoners in virtual isolation.
The 31-year-old reporter who previously worked for France Presse in Moscow is charged with espionage, a crime punishable by 20 years in prison.
Russia has never substantiated the allegations or publicly presented any evidence and the trial was classified as secret.
No date has yet been set for the trial.
This arrest comes against a backdrop of strong diplomatic tensions between the United States and Russia caused by the war in Ukraine.
Washington militarily and financially supports Kiev against Moscow.
The arrest of a foreign journalist duly registered by the Moscow authorities is unprecedented since the Soviet era.
Yet several US citizens have been arrested and sentenced to long prison terms in Russia in recent years.
Washington accuses Moscow of wanting to exchange the prisoners for Russians held in the United States.
Source: DN
