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YEKATERINBURG, Russia — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was convicted Friday of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison on charges that his employer and the U.S. government have rejected as fabricated.
The swift conclusion of the secretive trial in Russia's highly politicized legal system could potentially clear the way for a prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington.
Gershkovich, his head shaved, looked calm as he stood in a glass defendants' cage in the Sverdlovsk Regional Court and listened impassively to the verdict but gave an occasional smile. When Judge Andrei Mineyev asked him if he had any questions about the verdict, he replied, "No, your honor."
After Mineyev finished reading the verdict, someone in the courtroom shouted, "Evan, we love you!"
Closing arguments took place behind closed doors and Gershkovich did not admit any guilt, according to the court's press service. Prosecutors requested an 18-year sentence, but the judge opted for a shorter term.
"This disgraceful, sham conviction comes after Evan has spent 478 days in prison, wrongfully detained, away from his family and friends, prevented from reporting, all for doing his job as a journalist," Dow Jones CEO and Wall Street Journal Publisher Almar Latour and Editor in Chief Emma Tucker said in a statement.
"We will continue to do everything possible to press for Evan's release and to support his family. Journalism is not a crime, and we will not rest until he's released. This must end now," the statement added.
Gershkovich, 32, was arrested March 29, 2023, while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. Authorities claimed, without offering any evidence, that he was gathering secret information for the U.S.
This disgraceful, sham conviction comes after Evan has spent 478 days in prison, wrongfully detained, away from his family and friends, prevented from reporting, all for doing his job as a journalist.
–Almar Latour, Wall Street Journal publisher and Emma Tucker, editor in chief
He has been behind bars since his arrest, which will be counted as part of his sentence. Much of that was spent in Moscow's notorious Lefortovo Prison — a czarist-era lockup used during Josef Stalin's purges, when executions were carried out in its basement. He was transferred to Yekaterinburg for the trial.
Gershkovich was the first U.S. journalist taken into custody on espionage charges since Nicholas Daniloff in 1986, at the height of the Cold War. Foreign journalists in Russia were shocked by Gershkovich's arrest, even though the country has enacted increasingly repressive laws on freedom of speech after sending troops into Ukraine.
Unlike the trial's opening on June 26 in Yekaterinburg and previous hearings in Moscow in which reporters were allowed to see Gershkovich briefly before sessions began, there was no access to the courtroom on Thursday when the trial resumed, but media was allowed in court on Friday for the verdict. Espionage and treason cases are typically shrouded in secrecy.
Russian courts convict more than 99% of defendants, and prosecutors can appeal sentences that they regard as too lenient. They even can appeal acquittals.
The U.S. State Department has declared Gershkovich "wrongfully detained," committing the government to assertively seek his release.
Asked Friday about a possible prisoner swap involving Gershkovich, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday at the United Nations that Moscow and Washington's "special services" are discussing an exchange involving Gershkovich. Russia has previously signaled the possibility of a swap, but said a verdict would have to come first. Even after a verdict, any such deal could take months or years.
State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel on Thursday declined to discuss negotiations about a possible exchange, but said: "We have been clear from the get-go that Evan did nothing wrong and should not have been detained. To date, Russia has provided no evidence of a crime and has failed to justify Evan's continued detention."
Russian President Vladimir Putin hinted earlier this year that he would be open to swapping Gershkovich for Vadim Krasikov, a Russian serving a life sentence for the 2019 killing in Berlin of a Georgian citizen of Chechen descent.
Lavrov on Wednesday reaffirmed the Kremlin claim that the government has "irrefutable evidence" against Gershkovich, although neither he nor any other Russian official has ever disclosed it.
Speaking to reporters after the verdict, prosecutor Mikael Ozdoyev reaffirmed that Gershkovich was accused of gathering secret information about production and repair of military equipment at Uralvagonzavod, a huge industrial plant about 90 miles north of Yekaterinburg that manufactures tanks. Ozdoyev repeated the claim that Gershkovich was acting on instructions from the CIA and tried to conceal his action.
U.S. officials have dismissed this as bogus.
"Evan has never been employed by the United States government. Evan is not a spy. Journalism is not a crime. And Evan should never have been detained in the first place," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said last month.
Russia's interpretation of what constitutes high crimes like espionage and treason is broad, with authorities often going after people who share publicly available information with foreigners and accusing them of divulging state secrets.
Earlier this month, U.N. human rights experts said Russia violated international law by jailing Gershkovich and should release him "immediately."
