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Russia, American journalist Evan Gershkovich is sentenced to 16 years in prison

2024-07-19 18:49:35, Kosova & Bota CNA

Russia, American journalist Evan Gershkovich is sentenced to 16 years in prison

American journalist, Evan Gershkovich. Source, AP

A Russian court on Friday found American journalist Evan Gershkovich guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in prison, state news agency RIA said.

Journalist Gershkovich, 32, The Wall Street Journal and the US government have said the allegations against him are false. He was arrested in March last year in the city of Yekaterinburg, near the Ural Mountains.

Russia's Prosecutor General's Office said last month that the journalist is accused of "gathering secret information" at the behest of the CIA. According to the indictment, Mr. Gershkovich was gathering information about Uralvagonzavod, a plant about 150 kilometers north of Yekaterinburg that manufactures and repairs tanks and other military equipment.

State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said Thursday that Washington is closely following the proceedings against journalist Gershkovich.

"To date, Russia has provided no evidence of a crime and has failed to justify Evan's continued detention," Mr. Patel said during a regular news conference in Washington.

He also demanded the release of another American, Paul Whelan, an official of American security corporations, who has also been jailed on espionage charges.

Vedant Patel declined to divulge any details of the prisoner swap talks with Moscow, but said they are working to get the two "returned to their families."

Russia has signaled the possibility of a prisoner swap involving journalist Gershkovich, but it says a decision on the journalist must be made first, which could take months.

But even if such a decision is made, it may take months or years to exchange the prisoners.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday at the United Nations that the "special services" of Moscow and Washington are discussing a prisoner exchange that includes Mr. Gershkovich.

The journalist of "The Wall Street Journal" is the son of Russian immigrants from the Soviet Union. He is the first American journalist to be arrested and tried on charges of espionage in the period after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The State Department has declared the man 'wrongfully detained', a decision that forces the US government to press harder for his release.

Another American journalist, Alsu Kurmasheva, has been in prison for eight months because she did not register as a foreign agent. The journalist, who also has Russian citizenship, of Radio Free Europe, which, like the Voice of America, is part of the American Global Media Agency, denies having committed any violation.

Arrests of Americans are increasingly common in Russia. Nine American citizens are so far known to be held there as tensions between the two countries have escalated due to the war in Ukraine./ VOA