US reporter Evan Gershkovich appears in Russian court to appeal detention

MOSCOW, Russia — US journalist Evan Gershkovich appeared in court Tuesday to appeal his pre-trial detention in a notorious Moscow prison, where he has been held on spying charges for almost six months.

The 31-year-old, who is the Wall Street Journal’s Moscow correspondent, was detained in late March during a reporting trip to the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.

Gershkovich smiled from behind the defendant’s glass cage as he kept his hands in the pockets of his jeans, an AFP reporter at a municipal court in Moscow said.

US Ambassador Lynne Tracy was present at the hearing.

Gershkovich continued to report from Russia despite a large part of the Western press leaving the country after it launched its Ukraine offensive and became the first Western journalist to be arrested by Moscow on espionage charges since the Cold War.

In late August, Russia extended his detention by another three months until November 30.

US journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested by Russia on espionage charges, stands inside a defendants’ cage before a hearing to consider an appeal on his extended pre-trial detention at the Moscow City Court in Moscow on September 19, 2023. (Photo by NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA / AFP)

His arrest marked a crackdown on media freedom in Russia.

US authorities and the Wall Street Journal have denied the charges, saying Gershkovich was simply doing his job.

Russia has not provided any public evidence of the accusations.

Gershkovich, who speaks fluent Russian and whose parents fled the Soviet Union, has been held in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo prison.

The US has said it is working to bring him home, in an effort to release several US citizens from Russian prisons.