US journalist Evan Gershkovich will face the beginning of a closed-door trial on espionage costs in Russia on Wednesday, greater than a yr after he grew to become the primary Western journalist because the Soviet period to be detained on such accusations.
The Wall Street Journal correspondent, who alongside along with his employer and the White House has denied the costs, was arrested in March 2023 whereas on a reporting journey to the Urals metropolis of Yekaterinburg.
Russian prosecutors accused Gershkovich of working for the CIA and “collecting secret information” in regards to the nation’s primary tank producer within the Urals, claims Washington mentioned have been fabricated.
The Kremlin has supplied no public proof for the allegations, saying solely that he was caught “red-handed”.
The trial will happen in Yekaterinburg’s Sverdlovsk Regional Court, some 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) east of Moscow.
If convicted, Gershkovich might resist 20 years in a penal colony.
The 32-year-old has spent nearly 15 months in Moscow’s infamous Lefortovo jail following his arrest.
The US State Department mentioned the cost towards him had “zero credibility”, and the Wall Street Journal mentioned he was arrested for “simply doing his job”.
Washington has accused Moscow of arresting its residents on baseless costs to make use of them as bargaining chips to safe the discharge of Russians convicted overseas.
Moscow mentioned final week, days after the trial date was introduced, that it was ready for a response from Washington on concepts Russia had introduced for a attainable prisoner swap.
– ‘HE IS INNOCENT’ –
Judge Andrei Mineyev will preside over the courtroom proceedings.
They shall be held behind closed doorways, as is typical for espionage instances, however Russia has mentioned the media will briefly be allowed to see Gershkovich within the courtroom earlier than it begins.
Despite the costs towards him, the reporter has appeared cheerful and smiled in earlier hearings.
In one occasion, he was caught smiling to a person in a balaclava who led him, handcuffed, by way of the snow.
President Vladimir Putin has hinted he desires to see Gershkovich freed as a part of a prisoner swap take care of the US, searching for the discharge of a Russian man jailed in Germany for killing an exiled Chechen separatist commander.
US President Joe Biden, who hailed Gershkovich as brave for his reporting in Russia, has mentioned his administration will work “every day” to convey the reporter residence.
Gershkovich’s mother and father, who fled repression within the Soviet Union and settled within the US within the Seventies, instructed AFP this yr they have been relying on a “very personal promise” from Biden.
“We know that he is innocent of what he is being accused of,” his father Mikhail Gershkovich instructed the Wall Street Journal in a video interview in March.
Russia holds different US residents in its jails, together with marine Paul Whelan, in jail for over 5 years on spying costs, and US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who was detained final yr whereas visiting household.
– ‘BEST WAY HE CAN’ –
Raised in New Jersey and a fluent Russian speaker, Gershkovich reported from Russia for six years and stayed there whilst dozens of different Western journalists left within the wake of Moscow’s Ukraine offensive.
He moved to Moscow in 2017 to work for small English-language newspaper The Moscow Times, the place he produced a number of the outlet’s largest tales on a shoe-string price range.
He then labored for AFP earlier than turning into a Moscow correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, weeks earlier than the Kremlin despatched troops into Ukraine.
In the job, he reported on how the battle was affecting extraordinary Russians, talking to the households of useless troopers.
His pals say he was decided to remain in Russia so long as attainable.
There has been a significant marketing campaign to launch Gershkovich, with lots of his supporters praising his resilience whereas behind bars.
The Gershkovich household has additionally mentioned it’s staying robust.
“He knows that we are doing well and we are strong,” his mom Ella Milman instructed the Wall Street Journal in March.
“He put the bar up high and we need to follow his example.”
Her son “still worries about us” from jail, she mentioned, including that he was “exercising, meditating and reading a lot” in Moscow’s Lefortovo.
“He is managing the best way he can.”
Source: www.anews.com.tr