Russian court sentences US journalist Gershkovich to 16 years for spying
Al Jazeera
The Wall Street Journal condemns ‘disgraceful, sham conviction’ and says ‘journalism is not a crime’.
A Russian court has sentenced American journalist Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison after convicting him for espionage in a closed-door trial, according to state media.
The 32-year-old correspondent for The Wall Street Journal pleaded not guilty and his employer and the United States have denounced the charges as fabricated.
Gershkovich was sentenced to “punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 16 years in a strict regime colony”, Judge Andrei Mineyev said, announcing the verdict on Friday as the reporter stood in a glass cage, according to video of the hearing released by the court.
Asked by the judge if he had any questions, he replied “No” in Russian.
“This disgraceful, sham conviction comes after Evan has spent 478 days in prison, wrongfully detained, away from his family and friends, prevented from reporting, all for doing his job as a journalist,” Almar Latour, the chief executive of Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, and the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Emma Tucker said in a statement.
