Evan Gershkovich is an American citizen; wall street journal The (WSJ) reporter who was kidnapped by Russia’s Vladimir Putin regime in March 2023 marked one year since his captivity on Friday, March 29th.
Mr. Gershkovych was arrested in Yekaterinburg last year on highly questionable espionage charges and has been detained without trial or evidence ever since. Russian courts are was denied A series of appeals from Mr. Gershkovic’s defense team against his wrongful imprisonment.
of WSJ I felt sad Gershkovitch’s “Stolen Years” on Friday:
Evan lost 12 months of his normal life as an active and curious 32-year-old. The past year has been spent jet-setting across Europe and the United States in between reporting trips to Russia and friends and family.
The number of weddings and engagements among high school and college friends is increasing rapidly. He missed out on a year of monumental change and intrigue in Russian reporting. This was the basis of many friendships with reporters and an important part of his identity. He missed his favorite teams Arsenal, Mets and Jets for a year. He missed the final episode of “Succession,” the final episode of “Ted Lasso” and the 16th season of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
“A year is a long time. It feels like a lot has happened in my life,” said his friend and former Brooklyn roommate Mike Van Italie. “It’s very difficult to contrast that with Evan literally being in the same confined space for that entire period of time.”
Gershkovych is held in solitary confinement in Moscow’s strict Levoltovo prison, a former KGB facility. He is usually required to stand in a cage (five times at last count) as Russian courts regularly drag him in for extended detention. If the case goes to trial, he faces 20 years in prison on as-yet-unexplained charges.
ABC News on Friday Quote Russian officials said Gerskovich was seen as a “bargaining chip” by Putin’s government, which hoped to exchange him for scores of Russian criminals in Western prisons. .
Putin himself has said he is interested in a prisoner swap, potentially swapping Gerskovich for Vadim Krasikov, a Kremlin hitman currently imprisoned in Germany.
Krasikov, 58, is arrested, who received a fair trial and was sentenced in 2021 for the broad daylight murder in Berlin of a man Russia accused of complicity in the 2004 terrorist attacks. President Putin was keen to recapture his successor in the KGB, Krasikov, a senior official in Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
Even if an exchange could be agreed, the German government could be very reluctant to let Krasikov go. Especially since Mr. Krasikov shot and killed the victim in front of his children and their parents in a Berlin playground.
Some allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died Last month, under dark conditions in an arctic prison, believe He was killed to thwart a proposed prisoner swap with Krasikov that involved Navalny, Gershkovich and another long-imprisoned American hostage, Paul Whelan.
Former US Marine Paul Whelan, arrested on December 28, 2018 in Moscow on suspicion of espionage, is awaiting his hearing in a cage in a courtroom in Moscow, Russia. On Monday, June 15, 2020, the Moscow City Court convicted Paul Whelan of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in a maximum-security prison. Mr Whelan claims he was framed and maintains his innocence. (Alexander Zemlyanichenko. File/AP)
WSJ Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker I have written Friday’s editorial called for Gerskovich’s release and accused Putin of criminalizing “independent journalism and reliable fact-gathering.”
Mr Tucker called Mr Gershkovic’s illegal detention a “blatant attack on the right to freedom of the press” and called on the other 550 journalists imprisoned around the world – the highest number ever – to take note. recorded By Reporters Without Borders (RSW).
“Dozens of people have died in the line of duty. Countless others have been harassed and intimidated in the pursuit of the truth. These include not only democratic governments and members of parliament; These are statistics that should be of great concern to right-thinking people around the world. We must work together to explore new ways to better support and protect journalists in the field.” wrote.
print version of wall street journal shipped On Friday, you’ll see a blank space where the leading feature should be. In the blank space, below Evan Gershkovich’s byline, was the title, “His Story Should Be Here.”
A New York City peddler at Grand Central Station shows a mostly blank front page to commemorate the first anniversary of reporter Evan Gershkovich’s (Portrait L.) imprisonment in Russia, March 29, 2024. posing with a copy of The Wall Street Journal. . (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement Friday condemning the “year-long wrongful detention of Evan Gershkovitch in Russia.”
“So far, Russia has provided no evidence of wrongdoing for the simple reason that Evan has done nothing wrong. Journalism is not a crime,” Blinken said.
“One year after Evan’s illegal detention, Russia’s already restrictive media environment has become even more repressive, with continued attacks on independent voices targeting all forms of dissent,” he said.
Blinken said the U.S. government “remains committed” to bringing Gershkovic and Paul Whelan home.
“People are not bargaining chips. Russia should end its practice of arbitrarily detaining individuals for political use and immediately release Evan and Paul.”
