The Moscow City Court Tuesday rejected an appeal by Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich against his detention on allegations of espionage in a high-profile case that’s highlighted the growing pressure on journalists in Russia.
Gershkovich, 31, appeared smiling in the glass defendant’s cage when media were allowed into the courtroom before the hearing. It was the first time he was seen in public since his arrest on March 29 in the city of Yekaterinburg in Russia’s Urals Mountains region.
The arguments were closed to the public, but journalists were allowed to hear the judge read the ruling.
“All understood. Thank you very much,” Gershkovich was heard telling the judge after the ruling, AFP reported. Handcuff marks were visible on his hands, AFP said.
“He has a fighting spirit. He’s working out and he knows that people are supporting him,” Maria Korchagina, one of his lawyers, told AFP after the hearing.
His other lawyer, Tatyana Nozhkina, said Gershkovich was reading a lot in prison and was currently working through Leo Tolstoy’s classic “War and Peace.”
The lawyers said they had requested his release under house arrest and had offered to pay bail of 50 million rubles ($613,000), AFP reported.
Charged with spying, which carries a 20-year maximum penalty, Gershkovich is being held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison. The Kremlin says he was caught “red handed,” but has provided no evidence. The Wall Street Journal denies the allegations.
The State Department has formally determined that Gershkovich has been “wrongfully detained,” which opens the way to the U.S. to negotiate on his behalf. He’s the first American reporter to be detained on accusations of espionage since the Cold War.
Lynne Tracy, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, attended the hearing.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said earlier this month that the Kremlin was willing to negotiate a swap involving Gershkovich, but only after his trial is concluded.
