I feel joy at my friend Evan Gershkovich’s release. But the anger lingers

‘There is no true justice here, but if Evan can make a successful return to journalism, my anger may fade.’ Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

It was a headline that many American journalists yearned to see, in the place they most wanted to see it. Spread across the Wall Street Journal’s homepage on Thursday, in large font, the words: “WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich Is Free.”

When I first heard the news that Evan was being released from Russian captivity in an elaborate international prisoner swap, my eyes filled with tears of relief. But my emotions were mixed because I knew how unjustly he had been accused of espionage and how absurd his recent conviction was.