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Closed-door trial date for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich set in Russia

By
Social Links for Ronny Reyes
Published June 17, 2024
Updated June 17, 2024, 5:30 p.m. ET

Imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich’s espionage trial will begin on June 26 and be held behind closed doors, according to the Russian court.  

Gershkovich, 32, was formally indicted last week after spending more than a year in a Russian prison cell, with Moscow claiming the American reporter was a US spy. 

The trial will be held in the Sverdlovsky Regional Court in Yekaterinburg, where Gershkovich was arrested.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich gestures in a glass cage in a courtroom at the First Appeals Court of General Jurisdiction in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 23, 2024.
A trial date has been set for Wall Street Journal employee Evan Gershkovich in Russia. AP

Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted at the trial, which will be closed to the public, which is typical for espionage cases. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the decision, saying it was the court that decided to keep the trial out of the public eye. 

The American journalist was accused of “gathering secret information” about a facility in the Sverdlovsky region that produced and repaired military equipment, Russia’s Prosecutor General’s office announced last Thursday.

Both Gershkovich and the WSJ have vehemently denied the allegations, with Washington designated him as wrongfully detained.

Gershkovich was on a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg in March 2023 when he was arrested, and he has been held at the Lefortovo prison ever since. 

Journalist Evan Gershkovich, wearing a hat and backpack, taken on July 24, 2021
Gershkovich is accused of espionage against Russia, which he and the U.S. government deny. AFP via Getty Images

Russian officials have yet to provide any evidence to back the allegations against the WSJ reporter.  

“Evan has done nothing wrong. He should never have been arrested in the first place,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said last week.

“Journalism is not a crime. The charges against him are false,” Miller added. “And the Russian government knows that they’re false. He should be released immediately.”

The Kremlin said on Monday that they had spoken with the US over a possible prisoner exchange, but the discussions will continue in secrecy. 

Putin has said that he believes a deal could be reached to free Gershkovich, suggesting he could free the reporter in exchange for the freedom of imprisoned Russian national Vadim Krasikov. 

U.S. President Joe Biden speaking at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, with an image of jailed journalist Evan Gershkovich in the background
The Biden administration has sought to negotiate Gershkovich’s release, but Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Moscow would consider a prisoner swap only after a trial verdict. AP

Krasikov is currently serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 murder of a Georgian citizen of Chechen descent.  

Russia’s foreign ministry has said a prisoner swap will only take place following a trial verdict. 

Gershkovich is the first American reporter arrested on espionage charges in Russia since 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for US News and World Report, was arrested by the KGB.

Unlike Gershkovich, Daniloff was released without charge 20 days later in a deal for an employee of the Soviet Union’s UN mission who was arrested by the FBI.

With Post wires