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Russian court extends detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich until end of January

  • A Russian court extended the pre-trial detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, until January 30
  • Gershkovich’s continued imprisonment was a ‘brazen and outrageous attack’ on a free press, the Journal said in a statement

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Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands inside an enclosure for defendants before a court hearing to consider an appeal against his pre-trial detention on espionage charges in Moscow, Russia. Photo: Reuters
ReutersandAssociated Press

A court in Moscow on Tuesday extended the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, until January 30, Russian news agencies reported.

The hearing took place behind closed doors because authorities say details of the criminal case against the American journalist are classified.

Gershkovich, 32, was detained in March while on a reporting trip to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) east of Moscow.

Russia’s Federal Security Service alleged that the reporter, “acting on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.”
Gershkovich and the Journal deny the allegations, and the US government has declared him to be wrongfully detained.

The Wall Street Journal said on Tuesday that Russia’s continued imprisonment of Gershkovich was a “brazen and outrageous attack” on a free press, and called for his immediate release.

The accusations against him are categorically false and his continued imprisonment is a brazen and outrageous attack on a free press
Wall Street Journal statement

“Evan has now been unjustly imprisoned for nearly 250 days, and every day is a day too long,” the Journal said in an emailed statement.

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