Russian court sends WSJ journalist to pre-trial detention centre for two months
The Moscow court has ordered to detain until 29 May a Wall Street Journal journalist, Evan Gershkovich, who has been arrested in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg under suspicion of espionage.
Source: Joint press service of Moscow courts on Telegram; Russian media outlet Mediazona; Kremlin-aligned news agency TASS, citing its sources; CNN
Details: The Lefortovo District Court of Moscow remanded Gershkovich in custody for 1 month and 29 days under Art. 276 of the Russian Criminal Code. He faces 20 years in prison.
Mediazona reports that the journalist was taken to court around 14:00 Moscow time. Before that, all visitors were forced to leave the court building.
Lawyer Daniil Berman came to Gershkovich with a warrant to represent him. However, the attorney was not allowed to see his client. The bailiff said that the journalist "already had a lawyer".
The bailiffs then blocked the fifth-floor wing of the court, where several courtrooms are located. When the lawyer asked the bailiff to enter the courtroom, he threatened to bring in the Russian Guard.
Background: Gershkovich is the first American journalist to be arrested in Russia for espionage since the end of the Cold War. The last time, Nick Daniloff was detained on a similar charge in 1986. He spent several weeks in isolation until the US ex-President Reagan's administration negotiated his release.
Daniloff said that his arrest followed the detention of a Soviet citizen in New York. Both he and the Soviet citizen, he said, were released through negotiations.
The Kremlin did not answer whether Gershkovich's arrest was a "response" to the arrest last week in the United States of Sergei Cherkasov, who is accused of espionage.
Background: The detention of the Wall Street Journal journalist was reported on the morning of 30 March. The FSB believes that the journalist "was collecting intelligence constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the facilities of the Russian military-industrial complex on behalf of the US side".
The media outlet rejected Russia's accusations of espionage and demanded the journalist's release.
Dmitry Peskov, Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, claims that Gershkovich was caught "red-handed". As Maria Zakharova, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, claimed, Gershkovich was engaged in work in Yekaterinburg that "has nothing to do with journalism".
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