World reacts to Russia’s sentencing of US journalist Evan Gershkovich
Al Jazeera
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is found guilty of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony.
A Russian court has found Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich guilty of espionage and sentenced the first US journalist accused of spying since the Cold War to 16 years in a penal colony.
Judge Andrei Mineyev said in closed-door proceedings on Friday that Gershkovich, 32, was sentenced to “punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 16 years in a strict regime colony”.
Gershkovich was first detained in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in March 2023. So far, he has spent almost 16 months in detention.
His employer slammed the decision and called it a “disgraceful, sham conviction”.
“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,” Wall Street Journal Publisher Almar Latour and Editor-in-chief Emma Tucker said in a statement.
