US journalist Evan Gershkovich, accused of espionage, looks out from inside a glass defendants' cage prior to a hearing in Yekaterinburg's Sverdlovsk Regional Court on June 26, 2024. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images/TNS)

MOSCOW — A Russian court sentenced U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison on Friday as the espionage trial of the Wall Street Journal reporter concluded in Yekaterinburg.

Russian news agencies reported the verdict hours after the prosecution demanded an 18-year prison term for Gershkovich.

The trial, which began on June 26, took place behind closed doors.

Press freedom advocates, media outlets around the globe, and the U.S. government condemned Russia’s prosecution of Gershkovich as a sham and demanded his release.

Journalism is no crime

U.S. President Joe Biden said Gershkovich had “committed no crime” and was targeted by Russia “because he is a journalist and an American,” in a statement released by the White House.

He said the U.S. government would continue to fight for the release of Gershkovich, as well as for all U.S. citizens unlawfully detained abroad.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the sentence “despicable” and called for the 32-year-old reporter to be “released immediately.”

The conviction showed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is afraid of the power of facts,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on X. She called the sentence “part of Putin’s war propaganda.”

Gershkovich maintains innocence

The verdict came after three days of hearings. Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal and the U.S. government have staunchly rejected the allegations as unfounded, a stance the journalist maintained in court.

“The defendant has not admitted any guilt,” said a court spokeswoman.

Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023. The Russian domestic intelligence service, the FSB, made the espionage allegations against him.

According to the indictment, he had collected information about the Uralvagonzavod arms factory in Nizhny Tagil, 130 kilometers to the north of Yekaterinburg, on behalf of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The defense said Gershkovich had been carrying out journalistic research in the region.

Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Emma Tucker issued a statement at the start of the trial describing the proceedings in the Ural Mountains city as “shameful and illegitimate.”

After the second day of the trial, the court ended the so-called hearing of evidence on Thursday. Media reported that a local lawmaker from Yekaterinburg, who had met the U.S. reporter, had testified in court. The politician had previously reported that the U.S. citizen was interested in military issues.

Worrying precedent

Like many Western journalists, Gershkovich worked and researched in Russia with accreditation from the Foreign Ministry in Moscow.

He spent most of his pre-trial detention, which lasted for more than a year, in a Moscow prison. He repeatedly appealed the extension of his detention without success.

Gershkovich’s arrest — which is unprecedented in recent Russian history — has been seen as a warning to foreign correspondents still working in Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Later, Western reporters were officially warned against traveling to Yekaterinburg, 1,800 kilometers east of Moscow.

The situation in Russia is particularly tense due to the war on Ukraine. Western media representatives from countries officially labeled as unfriendly quickly run the risk of being denounced as spies.

However, Gershkovich is the first Western journalist to be placed behind Russian bars for espionage since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Prisoner exchange

Paradoxically, his sentencing could speed up his return to the United States, as a formal conviction is usually necessary in Russia before a prisoner exchange can take place.

According to official Russian accounts, behind-the-scenes talks with the U.S. are under way to exchange Gershkovich for a Russian detainee. Observers in Moscow interpret the swift conviction as a possible indication that an agreement could soon be reached.

Another potential target for Russian authorities to exchange for Gershkovich could be a Russian man who was convicted of murdering an ethnic Chechen man born in Georgia in a central Berlin park in broad daylight.

_____