Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained in March while on a reporting trip and charged with espionage, stands behind a glass wall of an enclosure for defendants, while U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy and lawyers Tatyana Nozhkina聽and聽Maria Korchagina appear in a courtroom before a hearing to consider an appeal against Gershkovich鈥檚 detention, in Moscow, Russia, April 18, 2023. REUTERS/Yulia Morozova
MOSCOW 鈥� A Moscow court on Tuesday rejected an appeal from U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich to be freed from pre-trial detention, meaning he will stay in a former KGB prison until at least May 29 while a spying case against him is investigated.
Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, denies the espionage charges. He looked calm and smiled as he stood in a glass and metal cage before the ruling, wearing a checked shirt, with his arms folded.
His legal team had asked that he be freed on bail of 50 million roubles ($614,000) supplied by his publisher Dow Jones or placed under house arrest, his lawyer Tatiana Nozhkina said.
鈥淗e鈥檚 in a combative mood,鈥� Nozhkina told reporters outside the court. 鈥淗e is ready to defend himself and to show that he is innocent.鈥�
Before the hearing got under way, Gershkovich turned around when one of the Russian reporters in the courtroom told him to 鈥淪tay strong!鈥� and relayed to him that everyone said 鈥淗i鈥�.
A masked man with 鈥淔SB鈥� written on his black uniform stood beside the cage as the judge rejected the appeal. U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy stood just meters away, watching the proceedings with a handful of foreign and Russian reporters who were admitted to the courtroom.
When asked by the judge if he needed translation, Gershkovich said in Russian that he understood everything. His lawyers said they would appeal the decision.
The Journal said it had expected the appeal to be turned down but was nonetheless disappointed.
鈥淓van is wrongfully detained and the charges of espionage against him are false,鈥� Almar Latour, CEO of Dow Jones, and Emma Tucker, editor in chief of the Journal, said in a statement.
鈥淲e demand his immediate release and are doing everything in our power to secure it.鈥�
State secrets
Russia鈥檚 FSB security service arrested Gershkovich on March 29 in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges that carry a possible 20-year prison sentence, for collecting what it said were state secrets about the military industrial complex.
The Kremlin has said Gershkovich, the first U.S. journalist detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the Cold War, was caught 鈥渞ed-handed鈥�.
The United States has deemed him 鈥渨rongfully detained,鈥� his employer and colleagues have said he is innocent, and President Joe Biden has called his detention illegal.
鈥淗e is reading a lot in prison 鈥� Russian literature in the original Russian,鈥� Nozhkina told Reuters, adding that he was reading Leo Tolstoy鈥檚 masterpiece 鈥淲ar and Peace鈥� about the French invasion of Russia in 1812.
Asked about the prison food, Nozhkina said Gershkovich was being given porridge in the mornings and that the food was normal.
Tuesday鈥檚 hearing did not address the substance of the charges as the investigation is still in progress.
Gershkovich, a son of Soviet emigres, is being held at Lefortovo prison, which in Soviet times was run by the KGB but is now operated by the Federal Penitentiary Service.
Traditionally it has been used to hold those suspected of spying and other grave crimes.
Yaroslav Shirshikov, a political expert in Yekaterinburg whom Gershkovich interviewed in mid-March and had been due to meet again, was reported on Tuesday to have been charged with inciting terrorism.
The news outlet Yekaterinburg Online quoted Shirshikov鈥檚 lawyer Fyodor Akchermyshev as saying he had been charged over publicly expressed views on the killing of the pro-war military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in St Petersburg this month.
Shirshikov acknowledged publishing the statements in question but denied ever justifying or supporting terrorism, the lawyer said.