A Russian court “convicted” Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich of spying, sentencing him to 16 years in a high-security penal colony.
Russia even moved up the proceedings against Gershkovich:
The proceedings against Gershkovich were accelerated as the court moved up hearing dates by nearly a month. Russian officials, from President Vladimir Putin on down, have signaled an interest in swapping Gershkovich for Russians held in the West.
Asked on Friday about a possible exchange of Gershkovich, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “I’m leaving that question without an answer,” according to Russian state media. “There is a charge of espionage, so this is a very, very sensitive area.”
Russian officials arrested Gershkovich in March 2023 while he reported from Yekaterinburg, a city 900 miles from Moscow.
Gershovich already spent 478 days in prison. The WSJ responded:
“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 Wall Street Journal Editor in Chief Emma Tucker said in a statement.
“We will continue to do everything possible to press for Evan’s release and to support his family,” they said. “Journalism is not a crime, and we will not rest until he’s released. This must end now.”
Biden’s administration worked hard to bring back a WNBA player who actually broke Russian law.
Biden has left Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, who haven’t committed crimes, behind to languish in Russian prisons.
Whelan is also in prison for espionage.
In June, Russian Deputy Minister Sergei Ryabkov mentioned a possible prisoner exchange.
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Comments
If I were him I wouldn’t expect any help from this government
As in Bridge of Spies (2015) you keep some spies in jail to trade with the other side when they catch yours.
Sorry, no lesbian traitor basketball players around to trade for this time
what russia can do here is allow fjb to negotiate for his release to create another layer to russian election influence
I disagree. I think Putin sees the proverbial blood in the water and wants something different. What Russia might do here is to negotiate with FJB to agree to trade Gershkovich for Biden’s agreement to end, or his withdrawal of, US Foreign Aid to Ukraine
Why would anyone believe the US Government or the WSJ?
Gershkovich could actually be guilty and is being jailed justly.
Possible, not probable.
Read the book Red Notice, and Once Upon a Time in Russia.
The only rule with the Russians is that you win at all costs. The only rule is there are no rules (for you, however similar to leftist- encumber your adversary to follow every rule no matter how small).
Putin is not quite the “show me the man, and we’ll find the crime” breed of Russian, but he is the first cousin.
Recall- his childhood was in a city that while under siege did engage in cannibalism. His older brother either starved to death or was mercy killed by his own mother.
The nurse is waiting for you to take your medicines. I’ll bet that you’re a big Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens fan.
It looks like the Russian “justice” system bears a strong resemblance to the NY system under DA Bragg and AG James.
Only President Trump will be able to get this poor guy out, during his second term. We certainly know that wretched, corrupt, feeble, tottering and emasculated Biden or crone-harlot, Harris, won;t lift a finger to help prisoners who aren’t manifestly shallow, anti-U.S., lesbian, professional athletes “of color.”
Well, it all makes sense considering that Biden/Harris do not care about the five or eight American citizens being tortured in Gaza and the 40+ American citizens that were slaughtered by Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Israel on October 7.
I am sick to death of the mindless, repeated assertions that he was not a spy and was wrongfully convicted. How the hell do you know? News flash, we spy on the Russians. More likely, he is a loyal American who got caught and he will have to do some time (as have others) before he is released in an exchange. The dope smoking lesbian, reatarded, negress basketball player is a red herring.
Personally, I’d like to hear more about what evidence was presented to convict them, rather than just unsupported claims that the arrests were “baseless”.
I don’t know anything about Whelan, but what I heard about Gershkovich is that a “confidential source” passed him classified information, which he then published.
That might not be espionage in the traditional sense of the word in that he wasn’t giving secrets to a foreign government, but I’d still say the case can be made that if that’s true, he’s guilty of what they charged him with.
Russia isn’t the US. They don’t have the First Amendment protecting the press and allowing them to share information deemed “classified” by the government.
Sounds sort of like the case against Julian Assange if you ask me.
At any rate, when visiting a foreign country, you’re subject to their laws, not ours. That was drilled into us over and over again when I was in the military. Reporters are not exempt.
One moral of the story: don’t be an American in Russia.
Especially if you are a journalist.
Ditto for China, Iran, and, any other country that is hostile to the U.S. Those regimes’ history of arresting westerners for use as future bargaining chips is long and well-documented.
If he’s smart, he’ll come out as a black, female basketball player.