An American reporter for the Wall Street Journal was sentenced Friday to 16 years in prison after being convicted of espionage in what his employer called “a hurried, secret trial that the U.S. government has condemned as a sham.”
Evan Gershkovich was ordered to serve the sentence at a high-security penal colony, the Journal reported.
“The court’s Friday verdict — after three days of hearings — was widely viewed as a foregone conclusion, since acquittals in Russian espionage trials are exceedingly rare,” according to the report.
“This disgraceful, sham conviction comes after Evan has spent 478 days in prison, wrongfully detained, away from his family and friends, prevented from reporting, all for doing his job as a journalist,” Wall Street Journal Editor in Chief Emma Tucker and Wall Street Journal publisher Almar Latour said in a statement.
Gershkovich, 32, was detained in March 2023 by Russian authorities while on assignment for the Wall Street Journal in Yekaterinburg.
Russian officials “have produced no public evidence to support their allegations,” the Journal reported.
“Authorities claimed, without offering any evidence, that he was gathering secret information for the U.S.,” the Associated Press reported.
The U.S. State Department said Gershkovich was “wrongfully detained” and said it is working to secure his release.
Hellbound and Down 