The American journalist Evan Gershkovich will remain in pretrial detention after a judge on Tuesday rejected his appeal after being arrested at the end of March for alleged espionage, an accusation that both he and the United States government strongly reject and that is considered part of the Kremlin crackdown on dissent amid war in Ukraine.
Dozens of journalists turned up for the hearing to see The Wall Street Journal reporter, the first US correspondent to be detained in Russia for espionage since the Cold War.
Gershkovich was calm inside a glass cage in which he was introduced during the session, which was attended by the US ambassador Lynne Tracy.
The journalist of The Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich, in a glass cage during his appeal before a court in Moscow on April 18, 2023. Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP
The Russian Federal Security Service detained Gershkovich in the city of Yekaterinburg in March and accused him of obtaining classified information about a Russian arms factory.
Both Gershkovich, the newspaper for which he works and the US government deny that he was involved in espionage activities and have demanded his release.
The State Department declared last week that he was "wrongfully detained," a special designation.
The 31-year-old reporter could be sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Russian lawyers have claimed that investigations into espionage cases took between a year and 18 months, during which time Gershkovich could hardly have contact with the outside world.
Since his arrest, he has been held in Moscow's Lefortovo prison, which dates back to the days of the Russian Empire and has been a terrifying symbol of repression since the Soviet era.
[The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant against Putin for war crimes in Ukraine]
His arrest comes at a time of tension between the West and Russia over their invasion of Ukraine, as Russian authorities have stepped up a crackdown on opposition activists, independent journalists and civil society groups.
A court last month sentenced a father to two years in prison for posting drawings of his daughter critical of the conflict on social media.
Another court sentenced Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr., a leading opposition figure, to 25 years in prison on Monday for treason in publicly denouncing the war.
The US believes that some documents about Ukraine that were leaked may be altered
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The United States has pressured Moscow to grant Gershkovich consular access.
On Monday, Ambassador Tracy stated that she had visited Gershkovich in prison for the first time since his arrest.
She claimed on Twitter that he "is in good health and remains strong," reiterating the US call for his immediate release.
A senior Russian diplomat said last week that Russia might be willing to negotiate with the United States a possible prisoner swap that would include Gershkovich after his trial, which rules out a priori that the journalist could be released in the short term.
American women's basketball star Brittney Griner regained her freedom last December after a prisoner exchange with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout after being tried and sentenced to nine years in prison for drug possession.
In total she spent 10 months behind bars.
US corporate security executive Paul Whelan has been detained in Russia since December 2018 for alleged espionage, a charge denied by both the government and his family.
[Pentagon releases video showing Russian fighter intercepts downed military drone over Black Sea]
Putin travels to Ukraine
The appearance of the reporter from The Wall Street Journal in court coincides with the visit this Tuesday of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Russian troops stationed in the Ukrainian province of Kherson, very close to the line of combat located in the south of the country.
According to images released by the Kremlin, Putin arrived by helicopter at the command post of this detachment and then traveled to the headquarters of the Russian National Guard in the Luhansk region, in the east.
More than 30 Ukrainian children who had been taken to Russia are reunited with their families
April 9, 202300:27
Kherson and Luhansk, along with Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, are four areas that Russia illegally annexed in September after holding local referendums that Ukraine and the West denounced as a sham.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak was scathing in his criticism of Putin's trip, accusing the Russian leader of "degradation" and of being the perpetrator of "mass murder" in the war.
Putin's visits to military headquarters come as Ukraine prepares for a new counteroffensive aimed at retaking the occupied territories.
Last month he was in Mariupol, an Azov Sea port city that was captured by Russian troops in May 2022 after two months of fierce fighting.
Ukrainian officials have said they are buying time by depleting Russian forces in the east of the country as they prepare for such a counteroffensive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that if Russia wins the Battle of Bakhmut in the Donetsk province, Putin could rally international support for a deal that would force Ukraine to make a series of unacceptable compromises in order to end the conflict.
