He comes home.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned in Russia for nearly 500 days on dubious espionage charges, is set to be released as part of a larger exchange of political prisoners and journalists involving the United States and Germany, Fox News reports.
Fox News confirmed that Paul Whelan, a US veteran who had been held captive in Russia for years, would also be released. Sources familiar with the matter told Fox News that Turkish intelligence played a key role in brokering the prisoner swap.
Gershkovich, 32, was arrested and charged with espionage while covering a trip to the Ural Mountain city of Yekaterinburg on March 29, 2023. The Biden administration declared he was “unlawfully detained,” and both The Wall Street Journal and the U.S. government have staunchly denied the charges, describing them as absurd on their face.
Russia releases former Marine Paul Whelan in prisoner swap
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands inside a glass cage in a courtroom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (Associated Press)
After the veteran journalist’s pretrial detention was repeatedly extended, he was found guilty of “gathering secret information” in a closed court on July 19 and sentenced to 16 years in a maximum security prison. His conviction was expected, and experts and authorities had repeatedly said his only hope of freedom was a prisoner swap at the end of the court proceedings.
In a joint statement, Dow Jones CEO Almar Latour and The Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Emma Tucker denounced the “false convictions.”
“Evan was wrongfully detained, separated from family and friends, banned from reporting and served 478 days in prison before being falsely convicted and penalized for his actions while carrying out his duties as a journalist,” Latour and Tucker said.
“We will do all we can to seek Evan’s release and support his family,” they continued. “Journalism is not a crime and we will not rest until he is released. This situation must end now.”
WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich’s family, employers speak out as ‘sham’ closed-door trial begins in Russia
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board called the “falsely convicted” Evan Gershkovich a disgrace. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images)
Before his conviction, Gershkovich languished for months in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo prison, which one Russian journalist who was interrogated there described as a place of psychological torture designed to make prisoners feel isolated and abandoned.
Mr. Gershkovich was the first Western journalist to be arrested on espionage charges in post-Soviet Russia. Born in the United States as the son of Soviet immigrants, Mr. Gershkovich had long had a strong interest in his parents’ native country.
Before joining The Wall Street Journal in 2022, Gershkovich worked at The New York Times, The Moscow Times and AFP, where he built a reputation as a skilled journalist and made friends around the world. His friends in journalism helped keep his harrowing experience in the spotlight: the hashtag #FreeEvan was frequently shared by journalists on X and other social media profiles, and The Wall Street Journal devoted significant resources and space to his plight.
Evan Gershkovich marks one year since being jailed in Russia; friends just wait for ‘nightmare’ to end
Evan Gershkovich, seen in the defendant’s cage after his appeal hearing, was detained in Russia for 70 weeks. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP)
US military veteran Paul Whelan is set free after years of captivity in Russia. ((Photo credit: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images))
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The last time Russia exchanged prisoners with the United States was in December 2022, when it traded basketball player Brittney Griner for arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia for marijuana smuggling and possession. As with Gershkovich’s case, Griner’s harsh sentence was seen as a way for Russia to effectively hold an American hostage to gain leverage over the United States.
The impact and chilling effect of Gershkovich’s arrest and detention on journalism has been far-reaching. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Western media was already wary of Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime, and Gershkovich’s plight sent a clear message that no journalist could be kidnapped, or worse.
Grainne McCarthy, the Journal’s digital editor in chief, sent a memo to staff on Wednesday informing them that Gershkovich had been in custody for “70 weeks” and thanking colleagues for keeping Evan’s name front and center.
This is a developing story and will be updated. Fox News’ Nick Kalman contributed to this report.
