The meeting time was fixed for 9.30 in the morning in Cinquantenaire park, near the European institutions. Kim McCrael, a colleague at the Wall Street Journal of the American journalist imprisoned in Russia, Evan Gerskovich, welcomes those who wanted to run or walk for the release of the 32-year-old correspondent.
“Free Evan-Free Evan” read the badges and T-shirts. Journalists from the biggest media, representatives of foreign delegations and workers in the European institutions send their own message.
Financial Times Brussels bureau chief Henry Foy arrives wearing the jersey of his favorite hockey team. They played together when they were both correspondents in Russia.
“We are Evan’s friends and colleagues and have been here almost a year since he was arrested to stand by him and show the Russian authorities that we will not stop campaigning until he is released from this unjust and illegal imprisonment simply for doing his job says Henry Foy.
Evan Gershkovich lived in Moscow as of 2017. On March 29, 2023, he was arrested in Yekaterinburg by the Russian secret services for espionage by reporting on Wagner’s mercenaries. No matter how many attempts were made to free him, they failed. On Tuesday, it was decided to extend his detention until at least June.
“We are running to raise awareness for Evan Gerskovich, for the anniversary of his illegal detention and to show solidarity with him, his family and for the freedom of the press. Today’s race in Brussels is part of our global day of running for Evan, and we have similar events in more than 12 cities around the world,” says the Wall Street Journal’s Kim McCrael.
The head of the office of the New York Times in Brussels, Matina Stevi-Grindnev, as she says “today we ran for our colleague Evan Gerskovich who exactly one year ago was arrested in Russia for doing his job. The freedom of the press is a central pillar of democracy and it is being shaken everywhere, in the developed and developing world, even here in the European Union. As we support Evan, who at the age of 32 has found himself unjustly a prisoner of Putin, we also support all our colleagues who are targeted for their work, in prisons in Turkey, in Gaza, in Ethiopia and in so many other countries.”
For his part, US President Joe Biden stressed that “we will work around the clock to bring home Evan (Gerskovich) and Paul (Whelan), Americans wrongfully detained by the Russians and others around the world.” .
The EU had expressed its condemnation after the arrest of the American journalist, with the High Representative, Josep Borrell, stressing that “journalists must be allowed to exercise their profession freely and deserve protection” citing contempt for media freedom information from the Russian authorities”.
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