Evan GershkovichThe 32-year-old journalist appeared in the court in a glass defendants’ cage, his head shaved and wearing a black-and-blue plaid shirt. A yellow padlock was attached to the cage.
Jay Conti, executive vice president and general counsel for Dow Jones, publisher of the Journal, described the trial as a sham in an interview with The Associated Press.“He was an accredited journalist doing journalism, and this is a sham trial, bogus charges that are completely trumped up,” Conti said.The American-born son of immigrants from the USSR, Gershkovich is the first Western journalist arrested on espionage charges in post-Soviet Russia.
Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison if the court finds him guilty, which is almost certain. Russian courts convict more than 99% of the defendants who come before them, and prosecutors can appeal sentences that they regard as too lenient, and they even can appeal acquittals.
With Gershkovich’s trial being closed, few details of his case may become public. But the Russian Prosecutor General’s office said this month that he is accused of “gathering secret information” on orders from the CIA about Uralvagonzavod, a plant about 150 kilometers north of Yekaterinburg that produces and repairs tanks and other military equipment.
“We had hoped to avoid this moment and now expect the U.S. government to redouble efforts to get Evan released,” they said.In a letter to the Journal’s readers on Tuesday, Tucker said that to even call the proceeding a trial “is unfair to Evan and a continuation of this travesty of justice that already has gone on for far too long.”
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