OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
2:25 PM – Friday, July 19, 2024
A Russian court sentenced American journalist Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in a maximum security prison on Friday. The court found Gershkovich guilty of espionage in a case that the U.S. government and his employer, The Wall Street Journal, have denounced as fraudulent.
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More than a year after his espionage arrest in the southern Russian city of Yekaterinburg, Gershkovich, 32, still denies any wrongdoing in the case that went to trial last month.
Russia has never released any proof to back up its allegations against Gershkovich.
In a phone interview, the Sverdlovsk Regional Court’s press office informed reporters that during closing arguments, the state prosecutor had asked for Gershkovich to receive an 18-year sentence.
The court made a second declaration, announcing that Gershkovich had been found guilty of gathering classified information about the operations of a defense company for the purpose of producing and repairing military hardware under the direction of American intelligence agencies.
Judge Andrei Mineyev of the Sverdlovsk Regional Court sent Gershkovich back into custody pending the “proper enforcement of his sentence.” It is also expected that the journalist will need to pay legal fees after the ordeal. His legal fees should only amount to around $75 dollars, NBC News stated.
Gershkovich has fifteen days to file an appeal with the court.
Additionally, in a recent interview with The Associated Press, Jay Conti, executive vice president and general counsel of Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, stated that the trial was a “sham” based on “bogus charges that are completely [made] up.”
The U.S. government also denounces the accusations made against Gershkovich and believes that his detention is unjustified.
2024 GOP nominee Donald Trump stated in May that he could persuade Putin to release Gershkovich if re-elected, bringing his arrest into the spotlight of the U.S. presidential campaign. Additionally, Putin has previously expressed that a deal could be reached to release him.
In his prior court appearances in Yekaterinburg and Moscow, Gershkovich frequently flashed a smile and seemed to be in a good mood. But his family says that they have greatly suffered due to his incarceration.
“It has been hard,” said the journalist’s father, Mikhail Gershkovich, in March, marking the anniversary of his son’s arrest. “He spent all four seasons there. He spent his birthday and all the holidays. We want him home as soon as possible.”
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