Russia has sentenced U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich to 16 years after a spying trial that was widely seen as politically motivated.
Friday, July 19, 2024 12:27PMWall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was convicted Friday of espionage and sentenced to 16 years on charges that his employer and the U.S. have rejected as fabricated.
He was the first U.S. journalist taken into custody on espionage charges since Nicholas Daniloff in 1986, at the height of the Cold War. Gershkovich's arrest shocked foreign journalists in Russia, even though the country has enacted increasingly repressive laws on freedom of speech after sending troops into Ukraine.
Unlike the trial's opening on June 26 in Yekaterinburg and previous hearings in Moscow in which reporters were allowed to see Gershkovich briefly before sessions began, there was no access to the courtroom on Thursday, but media was allowed in the court on Friday for the verdict. Espionage and treason cases are typically shrouded in secrecy.
Asked Friday about a possible prisoner swap involving Gershkovich, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment.
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