The American journalist was arrested in Russia at the end of March.
On Monday, American Ambassador Lynne M. Tracy was able to visit Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested by security forces at the end of March in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison. This was the first meeting of US diplomats since the Wall Street Journal correspondent was held in custody since April 17. Tracy went on to say that Gershkovich was in good health and remained “strong, despite the circumstances.” The prison is known for brutal conditions including solitary confinement. The US State Department said Gershkovich was unlawfully detained, a political prisoner.
This Thursday would be Gershkovich’s 100th day in prison. To date, behind-the-scenes efforts by the Biden administration have made no visible progress towards his liberation. Russian state security arrested Gershkovich while eating in a restaurant in the city of Yekaterinburg, 1,300 kilometers east of Moscow in the Ural Mountains, and then charged him with espionage, but so far have not presented any evidence. He is to remain in custody until at least the end of August. If convicted, the journalist faces 20 years in a prison camp (Link).
Gershkovich is the son of Soviet Jews who fled to the United States in the late 1970s and later met there. After studying at Bowdoin College in Maine, he worked for six years as a Moscow correspondent, first for the “New York Times” and “Agence France Presse”, and from the beginning of 2022 for the “Wall Street Journal” (Link).
2023-07-05 06:08:52
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