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MOSCOW — A court docket in Moscow Friday prolonged the pretrial detention of Wall Avenue Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage fees, till the top of March, which means the journalist will spend no less than a yr behind bars in Russia.
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United States Consul Basic Stuart Wilson attended the listening to at Lefortovo District Court docket, which occurred behind closed doorways as a result of authorities say particulars of the prison case towards the American journalist are labeled.
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In video shared by state information company Ria Novosti, Gershkovich was proven listening to the ruling, standing in a court docket cage carrying a hooded prime and lightweight blue denims. He was pictured a short while later strolling in direction of a jail van to go away the court docket.
Gershkovich, 32, was detained in March whereas on a reporting journey to the Russian metropolis of Yekaterinburg, about 2,000 kilometres east of Moscow.
Russia’s Federal Safety Service alleged that the reporter, “appearing on the directions of the American aspect, collected info constituting a state secret in regards to the actions of one of many enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complicated.”
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Gershkovich and the Journal deny the allegations, and the U.S. authorities has declared him to be wrongfully detained. Russian authorities haven’t detailed any proof to assist the espionage fees.
Throughout his end-of-year information convention in December, Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned that Moscow is in dialogue with the USA on bringing dwelling each Gershkovich and jailed American Paul Whelan, and that the Kremlin hopes to “discover a answer” although “it’s not straightforward.”
Putin was replying to a query about a proposal the Biden administration made to safe the 2 males’s launch. The U.S. State Division reported it in December, with out providing particulars, and mentioned Russia rejected it.
“We’ve got contacts on this matter with our American companions, there’s a dialogue on this challenge. It’s not straightforward, I received’t go into particulars proper now. However typically, it appears to me that we’re talking a language every of us understands,” Putin mentioned.
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“I hope we are going to discover a answer,” he continued. “However, I repeat, the American aspect should hear us and decide that can fulfill the Russian aspect as nicely.”
The Russian Overseas Ministry has mentioned it’s going to take into account a swap for Gershkovich solely after a verdict in his trial. In Russia, espionage trials can final for greater than a yr.
Gershkovich is the primary American reporter to be charged with espionage in Russia since 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for U.S. Information and World Report, was arrested by the KGB. Gershkovich is being held at Moscow’s Lefortovo jail, infamous for its harsh situations.
Analysts have mentioned that Moscow could also be utilizing jailed People as bargaining chips after U.S.-Russian tensions soared when Russia despatched troops into Ukraine. A minimum of two U.S. residents arrested in Russia lately, together with WNBA star Brittney Griner, have been exchanged for Russians jailed within the U.S.
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