The Evan Gershkovich case

Translated by Andrea Solazzo

On Wednesday, 26 June, Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, in a bulletproof glass cage, was the protagonist and witness of the first day of his secret espionage trial. The journalists and reporters present were escorted out shortly after his arrival and not even the staff of the US embassy in Moscow were allowed access.

The young American journalist has been detained in Yekaterinburg since March 2023 on unclear espionage charges: he appears to be accused of collecting top-secret information on the activities of a company belonging to the Russian military industry on behalf of the CIA. These charges, which could lead to 20 years of imprisonment, were strongly denied by the Wall Street Journal and the US administration, which sees him as a political hostage of the Kremlin.

Who is Evan Gershkovich?

Evan Gershkovich, now detained for more than 450 days, is the son of Soviet-born Jewish immigrants who moved to New Jersey. His interest in Russia stems from his childhood, as he grew up speaking Russian as well as English and following Soviet traditions.

After his studies and a short-term stay in New York working as a news assistant for the famous New York Times, Gershkovich moved to Russia in 2017 to begin his career as an international reporter at The Moscow Times, an independent English- and Russian-language online publication.

In January 2022 Evan joined the Wall Street Journal and decided to stay in Russia after the invasion, travelling to the Ukraine-Belarus border and becoming the only American reporter to witness first-hand the deportation of the first Russian forces from the front.

Russia, journalists, the case at the UN

Since 4 March 2022, the Russian Federation has implemented stringent laws on public narratives concerning war: in particular, Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code, which prohibits the “public dissemination of deliberately false information on the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”, with punishments of up to 15 years in prison.

The Kremlin has also tried to control the flow of all war-related information: on 14 July 2022, the Russian Federation modified its Criminal Code (Art. 276) to broaden the definition of espionage to include virtually any sensitive but truthful information concerning armed conflict and effectively criminalising journalism aimed at truthful reporting on war activities.

As underlined in a UN Human Rights Council opinion, there is an absence of any factual or legal basis provided by the Russian Federation authorities for the espionage allegations against Mr. Gershkovich.

Furthermore, the UN does not discount the possibility that the espionage charges are being used by the Russian Federation as a pretext to penalise Gershkovich for his journalistic work. In fact, the organisation notes that the modified Criminal Code includes virtually any sensitive but truthful information about the armed conflict in Ukraine, creating a significant risk that Article 276 will be used as a pretext to punish those doing legitimate journalistic work.


Reactions

The US Ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, stated that Gershkovich's case “is not about evidence, due process or the rule of law. It is about using American citizens as pawns to achieve political aims”; continuing in a press release, “the Russian authorities have provided no evidence to support the charges against him, have not justified his continued detention, and have not explained why Evan's journalistic work constitutes a crime”.

In fact, the Russian legal system offers few, if any, of the legal protections recognised in other countries more firmly based on the rule of law. Acquittals in espionage cases are extremely rare.

Hostage diplomacy?

The chances of Gershkovich's release are few and almost completely dependent on the political context. Al Jazeera reports that signs of a possible prisoner exchange with Gershkovich have multiplied in recent months.

In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that he wanted to see Gershkovich freed and that talks were underway for a prisoner exchange. The President hinted that he wanted to see the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian citizen jailed in Germany for killing a former Chechen fighter in the middle of Berlin in 2019. A Kremlin spokesman neither confirmed nor denied the interpretation.

There is a history of prisoner exchanges between the US and Russia. In 2022, Russian officials exchanged basketball superstar Brittney Griner, arrested for possessing less than one gram of hashish oil in her vaporizer, for former Soviet military officer Viktor Bout. US officials had arrested Bout on conspiracy charges in 2008. Russian drug trafficker Konstantin Yaroshenko was exchanged for former US Marine Trevor Reed in 2022. Will Gershkovic be next?

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