A Russian court on Tuesday extended the pre-trial detention of American journalist Evan Gershkovich until June 30, a few days before the first anniversary of his arrest for “espionage”
charges
that he rejects.
“The Moscow City Court considered a request from the authorities responsible for the preliminary investigation and extended the term of detention of Evan Gershkovich until June 30, 2024
,” the press service of the Moscow courts said on Telegram.
The incarceration of this renowned
Wall Street Journal
reporter marked a new milestone in the serious tensions between Moscow and Washington, exacerbated since the conflict in Ukraine.
Evan Gershkovich, aged 32 and who also worked for AFP in Moscow between 2020 and 2021, was arrested at the end of 2023 by the FSB during a report in Yekaterinburg, in the Urals.
He rejects these accusations of
“espionage”
, punishable by 20 years in prison, just like the United States, his newspaper and his relatives.
Russia has never publicly provided any evidence.
The entire procedure was classified secret.
Washington accuses Moscow of having taken him hostage to exchange him, like several American citizens arrested in recent years in Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was willing to exchange the journalist for Vadim Krasikov, imprisoned for life in Germany for the murder of a Chechen opponent in Berlin in 2019.
But efforts to free him could have taken a more complicated turn since the death in prison of Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny who, according to his entourage, was also part of a prisoner exchange project currently being negotiated.
The American ambassador to Moscow, Lynne Tracy, said Tuesday after the hearing that the extension of his detention was
“particularly painful”
because this week marks the first anniversary of his arrest.
“The accusations against Evan are absolutely false
,” she said, calling them “fiction
.
”
The American journalist
“showed remarkable resistance and strength in the face of this grim situation
,” she said.
“But it’s time for the Russian government to let Evan go.”
“He is innocent”
Since Evan Gershkovich's arrest, Russian justice has systematically extended his pre-trial detention in Lefortovo prison, held by the FSB in Moscow, every two to three months.
Last week, Ambassador Lynne Tracy visited him and assured that he remained
“strong”
despite the circumstances.
His arrest sparked shock among Western correspondents still working in Russia under increasingly tense conditions.
In his letters to his family, the reporter tries to be optimistic and uses humor, those close to him say.
He talks, for example, about artificial intelligence or the Russian classics that he spends his days reading.
“It’s sad to see all the time Evan has lost
,” his sister Danielle told AFP at the end of February.
“He is innocent.
We want him to come home as soon as possible.”
Like him, a former American marine Paul Whelan, imprisoned in Russia since 2018, is also awaiting an exchange and rejects the espionage accusations which earned him a 16-year prison sentence.
Dual nationals have also recently been arrested.
A Russian-American woman was arrested by the FSB in Yekaterinburg and charged with
“high treason”
, a very severely punishable crime, for having sent money to the Ukrainian army.
Before her, a Russian-American journalist, Alsu Kurmasheva, working for the media RFE/RL financed by the American Congress, was arrested in Russia in October 2023. She is accused of disseminating “
false information”
about the Russian army, crime also punishable by a long prison sentence.