The Russian justice decreed this Thursday two months of preventive detention for the American journalist Evan Gershkovich, of the Wall Street Journal, whom he accuses of “espionage”.
“By decision of the Lefortovo court, Moscow, on March 30, 2023 on Gershkovich E. (…), the measure of preventive detention was chosen (…) until May 29, 2023,” read a statement. of the court, quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Without revealing details, the Kremlin guarantees that Evan Gershkovich was “caught in the act” and immediately warned Washington not to retaliate against Russian media in the United States.
The Russian security service (FSB) explains that it “thwarted the illegal activities of US citizen Evan Gershkovich (…) a correspondent for the Moscow office of the US newspaper The Wall Street Journal”, accusing him of “spying for the US government”. “.
The 31-year-old journalist was working under a credential issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry and, according to authorities, was detained for collecting information about a “company in the Russian military-industrial complex.”
“The foreigner was arrested in Yekaterinburg when he was trying to obtain confidential information,” the FSB detailed, referring to a city in central Russia, 1,800 kilometers east of Moscow.
Gershkovich pleaded not guilty in court, according to the official Russian news agency TASS.
“Deeply concerned for the safety” of the journalist, the Wall Street Journal has already denied the allegations against the reporter and called for his “immediate release.”
Fluent in Russian – the family emigrated to the United States when he was still a child – Gershkovich worked, also in Moscow, for AFP and, before that, for The Moscow Times, an English-language news site.
The non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders expressed “concern” about “what appears to be a reprisal.”
In Russia, espionage can be punished by ten to 20 years in prison, according to article 276 of the Criminal Code.
Source: TSF
