A Russian judge ruled Tuesday that American journalist Evan Gershkovich must remain behind bars on espionage charges.
Gershkovich and the U.S. government vehemently deny the allegations.
The Wall Street Journal reporter is the first U.S. correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on spying allegations.
Dozens of journalists crowded into the courtroom to catch a glimpse of Gershkovich. Clad in pale-blue jeans and a plaid shirt, the 31-year-old reporter looked calm and even smiled at times as he stood inside a glass cage to appeal his detention.
A judge with the Moscow City Court rejected the appeal, ruling that Gerhskovich must stay in jail until at least May 29.
Russia’s Federal Security Service detained the reporter in Yekaterinburg in March and accused him of trying to obtain classified information about a Russian arms factory.
Gershkovich, his employer, and the U.S. government deny he was involved in spying and have demanded his release.
“Evan is a member of the free press who right up until he was arrested was engaged in newsgathering. Any suggestions otherwise are false,” the Journal has said in a statement.
Last week, the U.S. officially declared that Gershkovich was “wrongfully detained.”
Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Russian lawyers have said past investigations into espionage cases took a year to 18 months, during which time he could have little contact with the outside world.
He has been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison.
“It’s not a very nice place in general, but conditions are OK, he doesn’t complain,” the reporter’s lawyer, Tatyana Nozhkina, said after the hearing on Tuesday.
She said Gershkovich was in good spirits, had no medical complaints, and was exercising and reading a lot, including Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
“He said that in the morning he eats porridge and he wrote to his mother that it looks like his childhood,” Nozhkina said. “He’s in good fighting spirit, he’s ready to prove his innocence and defend the media freedom.”
She added that Gershkovich has received letters from his parents and supporters, but so far hasn’t been allowed any phone calls. He also told his lawyers he was thinking about writing a book about the ordeal when he’s free
The arrest comes at a moment of bitter tensions between the West and Moscow over Ukraine’s war.
The United States has pressed Moscow to grant consular access to Gershkovich. U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy, who attended Tuesday’s hearing, said a day earlier that she had visited Gershkovich in prison. She said on Twitter that “he is in good health and remains strong,” reiterating a U.S. call for his immediate release.
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke to Gershkovich’s parents last week and again condemned his detention.
Gershkovich is the first American reporter to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, was arrested. Daniloff was released without charge 20 days later in a swap for an employee of the Soviet Union’s United Nations mission who was arrested by the FBI, also on spying charges.
A top Russian diplomat said last week that Russia might be willing to discuss a potential prisoner swap with the U.S. involving Gershkovich after his trial. That means any exchange is unlikely to happen any time soon.
In December, American basketball star Brittney Griner was exchanged for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout following her trial and conviction on drug possession charges. She had been sentenced to nine years in prison and ended up spending 10 months behind bars.
Another American, Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan, has been imprisoned in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges, which his family and the U.S. government have called baseless.
