An American journalist, Evan Gershkovich, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison by a Russian court. The court convicted him for espionage in a closed-door trial, according to state media.
According to report, the 32-year-old correspondent for The Wall Street Journal pleaded not guilty. Also, his employer and the United States have denounced the charges as fabricated.
Gershkovich was sentenced to “punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 16 years in a strict regime colony”, Judge Andrei Mineyev said. He announced the verdict on Friday as the reporter stood in a glass cage.
Gershkovich was seen standing in a cage in the court room in a video footage released by the court.
Asked by the judge if he had any questions, he replied “No” in Russian.
However, the management of The Wall Street Journal has condemned the court sentencing.
“This disgraceful, sham conviction comes after Evan has spent 478 days in prison. Wrongfully detained and away from his family and friends. Prevented from reporting, all for doing his job as a journalist,” Almar Latour, the Chief Executive of Dow Jones and Publisher of The Wall Street Journal, and the newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker said in a statement.
However, the Judge stated that the time Gershkovich had already served since his arrest nearly 16 months ago would count towards the sentence. The Judge also ordered the destruction of the reporter’s mobile phone and paper notebook.
The court maintained that defence has 15 days to appeal the judgment.
“The journalist was arrested on March 29, 2023, while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg,” Al Jazeera stated.
“He was accused by prosecutors of gathering secret information about Uralvagonzavod. This is a plant manufacturing tanks for Russia’s war in Ukraine, on the orders of the CIA.
However, the authorities have provided no public evidence for the allegations against the journalist. Kremlin only said that he was caught “red-handed” spying on a tank factory in the Urals and was working for the CIA.
Gerschkovich is the first Western Journalist to be arrested on espionage charges in post-Soviet Russia.
The journalist, his newspaper and the US Government say he was just doing his job. And he has accreditation from Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In prosecuting the case, the prosecution counsel had earlier asked the Sverdlovsk Regional Court in Yekaterinburg for an 18-year sentence.
Al Jazeera reports that closed-trials are standard in Russia for cases of treason or espionage involving classified material.
“Gershkovich’s trial has moved rapidly since the first hearing in late June, the media reported.
“We will continue to do everything possible to press for Evan’s release and to support his family,” said the statement from his employer.
“Journalism is not a crime. And we will not rest until he’s released. This must end now,” The Wall Street Journal stated.
source: Al Jazeera
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