A Russian court sentenced US journalist Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in a maximum-security prison on Friday, after speeding to the end of a spying trial that was denounced in the West and could lead to a prisoner swap between Washington and Moscow.
Russian prosecutors accused Mr Gershkovich, a Moscow-based correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, of trying to gather secrets on a tank factory in the Urals region of Sverdlovsk on the orders of the CIA – a charge dismissed as ludicrous by the newspaper, US officials and diplomats and international rights and media watchdogs.
“The court found Evan Gershkovich guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in prison to be served in a maximum-security [prison] colony,” the court in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, where he was arrested in March 2023, said in a statement.
“The criminal case was received by the Sverdlovsk regional court ... classified as ‘secret’. Since the case materials contain information constituting state secrets, it was heard behind closed doors. During the trial, the defendant did not admit guilt, but the totality of the evidence presented to the court was sufficient for a guilty verdict.”
Mr Gershkovich (32) is the first US journalist to be arrested on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War, and his case is widely seen as part of Kremlin attempts to gain leverage in relations with the US that have been destroyed by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“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,” said Almar Latour, chief executive of Dow Jones and publisher of the Wall Street Journal, and the newspaper’s editor in chief Emma Tucker.
“We will continue to do everything possible to press for Evan’s release and to support his family,” they said in a joint statement. “Journalism is not a crime, and we will not rest until he’s released. This must end now.”
Russian courts have a 99 per cent conviction rate, and a case with such political resonance would have been overseen by the presidential administration of veteran autocrat Vladimir Putin.
The resumption of a trial that began last month was brought forward by several weeks to Thursday, and ended the following day, suggesting that the court had been told to come to a swift verdict amid speculation over a potential Russia-US prisoner swap.
The US has accused Moscow of using Mr Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a US citizen who is serving a 16-year sentence for alleged spying, as “bargaining chips”. Two dual US-Russian citizens, journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and amateur ballerina Ksenia Karelina, were also arrested while visiting relatives in Russia in the last year.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said this week that Russian and US “intelligence agencies remain in contact in order to see if someone could be exchanged for someone else”.
“The Americans throw it into the public space from time to time, which does not help, of course. But such contacts do exist,” he added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Friday on prospects for a prisoner swap.
Rebecca Vincent, director of campaigns at Reporters Without Borders (RSF), called the verdict the “outrageous” conclusion of a “sham trial” that “cannot be considered fair or free by any means”.
“Targeting Gershkovich in this way is another blatant example of unacceptable state hostage-taking by Russia,” she added. “We urge his own government, the United States, to do everything in its power to secure his immediate release and his safe travel home.”
