Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich has lodged an appeal against a Moscow court’s decision to extend his pretrial detention in Russia until the end of November. This information comes from documents found on the court’s website.
Gershkovich was arrested in March while on a work trip to Yekaterinburg, a city located 1,200 miles east of Moscow. He is the first U.S. journalist since the Soviet era to be held on espionage charges in Russia.
The custody order that allowed Gershkovich to be kept in jail before trial was supposed to expire on August 30. However, the Moscow City Court has extended this order for an additional three months, causing objections from both U.S. government officials and The Wall Street Journal.
It was revealed on the court’s website that Gershkovich’s defense team has filed an appeal. In June, the court previously rejected his appeal to be released from detention at the end of August.
During the court proceedings, journalists were not allowed to witness the hearings because details of the criminal case are classified.
According to the Federal Security Service, Russia’s main internal security agency, Gershkovich allegedly collected information considered a state secret about the activities of a Russian military-industrial complex enterprise under the instructions of the American side. Gershkovich and The Wall Street Journal deny these allegations, and the U.S. government has declared his detention to be wrongful. However, Russian authorities have not provided specific evidence to support the espionage charges.
The Wall Street Journal released a statement condemning Gershkovich’s “improper” detention and asserting that journalism is not a crime.
Gershkovich is the first American journalist to face espionage charges in Russia since 1986.
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