Russia jails US reporter Gershkovich for 16 years

By AFP 20 July 2024, 5:59 am

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Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, June 26, 2024. (AP)

US reporter Evan Gershkovich has been sentenced by a Russian court to 16 years in prison for “espionage,” a verdict slammed as “despicable,” “disgraceful” and a “sham” by Western governments and his employer.

Gershkovich was sentenced after just three court sessions in a secretive closed-door trial in the Urals City of Yekaterinburg, the city where he was arrested while on a reporting trip in March 2023.

After the sentencing, US President Joe Biden said Gershkovich was “targeted by the Russian government because he is a journalist and an American.”

“We are pushing hard for Evan’s release and will continue to do so,” he added in a written statement published by the White House.

The Wall Street Journal correspondent, who pleaded not guilty, became the first journalist in Russia to be charged with spying since the Cold War when he was detained in 2023.

Both Washington and Moscow say talks over a prisoner swap are ongoing.