A Moscow court on Tuesday rejected Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich's appeal against his detention, more than a year after he became the first American journalist to be arrested for spying. spy in Russia since the Cold War.
The court ruled that Mr. Gershkovich, 32, must remain in a high-security prison in Moscow until at least the end of June, The Journal and news agencies reported. No trial date has been set, Mr. Gershkovich's detention may be extended.
Mr. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government have vehemently denied the espionage charges against him. The White House has designated Mr. Gershkovich as “unlawfully detained,” a status equivalent to being a political prisoner.
In a statement Tuesday, The Journal said it “continues to be outraged that Evan has been wrongfully detained by the Russian government for more than a year.”
“Evan's freedom is long overdue and we urge the authorities to do everything in their power to secure his release,” the statement said.
Unlike many other hearings, reporters were allowed into the courtroom Tuesday. According to Reuters, Mr. Gershkovich stood in a glass box and greeted media colleagues. The Associated Press described Mr. Gershkovich as looking comfortable.
At the end of March last year, Mr. Gershkovich was arrested by agents of the Federal Security Service, Russia's main security agency, during a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg, a major Russian industrial city east of Moscow.
Security agencies have not publicly presented any evidence to support the spying allegations. In February, President Vladimir V. Putin announced that Mr. Gershkovich “received classified, secret information” and “did it secretly.”
Mr. Gershkovich's arrest is one of a series of arrests detain American citizens in Russia over the past six years, a process that has raised concerns that the Kremlin is seeking to use American citizens as bargaining chips in exchange for Russian individuals detained in the West.
In February, Mr. Putin said that negotiations were underway. a potential exchange by Mr. Gershkovich to a Russian citizen being held abroad. In March, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei A. Ryabkov told TASS, a state news agency, that prisoner exchange negotiations were conducted “through a specialized closed channel.”
