Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich arrested in Russia has been charged with espionage, an agency report said. The Interfax news agency referred to an insider in its report on Friday. The 31-year-old was arrested in Yekaterinburg on March 30 on suspicion of espionage, Russia’s domestic secret service FSB announced at the time. The Wall Street Journal called for the reporter’s release.
He wasn’t spying. Gershkovich denies that he spied for his country, the TASS news agency reported on Friday. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Joe Biden called for the release of the reporter on Thursday after a phone call. “We call on Russia to immediately release Evan Gershkovich,” Trudeau tweeted.
US citizen Gershkovich has been reporting on Russia since 2017. Before the WSJ he worked for the English-language newspaper “The Moscow Times” and the AFP news agency. In recent months, the 31-year-old has mainly reported on Russian politics and the conflict in Ukraine. Born in 1991, Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Widespread criticism of arrest
“Gershkovich is a journalist, not a spy, and he should be released immediately and unconditionally,” said an open letter published Friday by the NGO Committee for the Protection of Journalists and addressed to Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov. The letter was signed by 38 representatives of renowned international media such as the New York Times, the British BBC, the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. Signatories also included press freedom organizations such as PEN America and the Vienna-based International Press Institute.
Source: Krone
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