Congressional leaders release rare joint statement slamming Gershkovich’s detention in Russia on first anniversary

In an unusual joint statement released Friday, Congressional leaders condemned the Russian government’s detention of American journalist Evan Gershkovich and marked one year since his captivity began. are doing.

“Evan Gershkovitch, an American citizen and Wall Street Journal reporter, has now been unjustly detained by the Putin regime for a year. We continue to condemn incarceration,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (New York), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (New York), and Senate Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (R-New York). Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said in a statement.

Their statements came days after a Moscow court extended Gershkovych’s pretrial detention until June 30. Legislative leaders maintained the importance of initiatives like Captive Gershkovic.

“The Kremlin’s attempts to silence Evan and intimidate other Western reporters do not impede the pursuit of the truth,” they said.

President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken also drew attention to the one-year milestone.

Biden: “Today we mark the one-year anniversary of the wrongful detention of American journalist Evan Gershkovich in Russia.” stated in a statement.

Both the president and his top diplomat commented on Mr. Gershković’s determination.

“Evan has remained resilient despite his time in Russian detention,” Blinken said. stated in a statement.

Biden promised to remain hopeful.

“Immediately after his completely unjust and illegal detention, he drafted a letter from prison to his family, writing, “I have not lost hope.” As I told Evan’s parents, so did I. I’m never going to give up hope,” Biden said.

“Journalism is not a crime,” a statement from Congressional leaders Blinken and Biden read.

“We are with you. We will never stop working to bring you home,” Biden said, adding that Gershkovic and “every American held hostage or unjustly detained abroad… He spoke to people.

Mr. Blinken and leading lawmakers also repeatedly called on the Russian government to immediately release Mr. Gershkovitch.

Referring to Paul Whelan, another American detained in Russia, Blinken said, “Russia will end its practice of arbitrarily detaining individuals for political use and will immediately take Evan and Paul.” He should be released.”

“We once again call on the Russian government to release Evan, Paul Whelan and others who were wrongly detained without delay,” the Congressional leaders said.

The Wall Street Journal’s front page on Friday commemorated the one-year anniversary of Gershkovic’s detention with a large blank space headlined, “His Story Should Be Here.”