Russia: American journalist Evan Gershkovich sentenced to 16 years in prison after a sham trial
A Russian court has sentenced American journalist Evan Gershkovich, a reporter with The Wall Street Journal, to 16 years in prison on trumped-up charges of espionage. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns this ludicrous sentence handed down after a sham trial, and calls again for his immediate release and safe return to the United States.
Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist for The Wall Street Journal, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage. The verdict was handed down today by the Sverdlovsk Regional Courthouse in Yekaterinburg, a city more than 1,800 kilometres from Moscow, ending a speedy closed-door trial that began on 26 June and took place over just three hearings.
The journalist's conviction comes after nearly 16 months in Moscow's Lefortovo prison following his arrest on trumped-up espionage charges on 29 March 2023. Gershkovich’s targeting appears to be a manoeuvre by the Russian government to facilitate a hostage exchange with the United States.
“The sentencing of Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison is outrageous, and is the result of a trial that cannot be considered fair or free by any means. This verdict should be immediately overturned. Journalists are not spies, and conflating journalism with espionage has highly dangerous implications for press freedom. Targeting Gershkovich in this way is another blatant example of unacceptable state hostage-taking by Russia. We urge his own government, the United States, to do everything in its power to secure his immediate release and his safe travel home.
Gershkovich's conviction is part of Russia’s unprecedented crackdown on independent media forced into exile, accelerated after its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The Russian justice system is not content to persecute local journalists; it is also targeting foreign journalists. Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalist Alsu Kurmasheva - a dual American-Russian citizen - has been arbitrarily detained since 18 October 2023. On 1st July, Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Gordon was sentenced in absentia to 14 years in prison.
