Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is jailed for 16 years

US reporter Evan Gershkovich has been found guilty of espionage charges by a Russian court and will now spend 16 years behind bars as Washington calls the case a sham. 

Gershkovich, a 32-year-old American who said the allegations against him were false, went on trial last month in the city of Yekaterinburg. 

He was the first US journalist arrested on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War. 

Espionage cases often take months to handle and the unusual speed at which his trial was held behind closed doors – Friday’s hearing was only the third in the trial – has stoked speculation that a long-discussed US-Russia prisoner exchange deal involving him and potentially other Americans detained in Russia may be in the offing. 

The Kremlin, when asked by Reuters on Friday about the possibility of such an exchange, declined to comment: ‘I’ll leave your question unanswered,’ said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands listening to the verdict in a glass cage of a courtroom inside the building of “Palace of justice,” in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on Friday, July 19, 2024. A Russian court convicted Gershkovich on espionage charges that his employer and the U.S. have rejected as fabricated. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison after a secretive and rapid trial in the country’s highly politicized legal system

A view of the Sverdlovsk Regional Court building prior to a hearing in the trial of US journalist Evan Gershkovich, accused of espionage, in Yekaterinburg

Russian prosecutors had alleged that Gershkovich had gathered secret information on the orders of the US Central Intelligence Agency about a company that manufactures tanks for Moscow‘s war in Ukraine, which he and his employer denied.

Officers of the FSB security service arrested him on March 29, 2023, at a steakhouse in Yekaterinburg, 900 miles (1,400 km) east of Moscow. 

He has since been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison.

Earlier on Friday, the court hearing the case had unexpectedly said it would pronounce its verdict within hours after state prosecutors demanded he be jailed for 18 years for spying.

The maximum sentence for the crime he is accused of is 20 years.

Evan Gershkovich, 32, was arrested on a reporting trip in March last year. Pictured: Gershkovich at the Moscow City Court on December 14, 2023 

The Wall Street Journal reporter was classified as ‘wrongfully detained’ by the White House since his arrest

To mark the one-year anniversary of his arrest, the Wall Street Journal published a powerful blank page with the headline: ‘His Story Should Be Here’ 

Evan’s parents Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich (pictured together) are both Jewish immigrants who fled the Soviet Union to America in 1979, before they met each other in Brooklyn 

Russia usually concludes legal proceedings against foreigners before making any deals on exchanging them for Russians held abroad.

His newspaper and the US government all rejected the allegations against him and said he was merely doing his job as a reporter accredited by the Foreign Ministry to work in Russia.

‘Even as Russia orchestrates its shameful sham trial, we continue to do everything we can to push for Evan’s immediate release,’ the Journal said in a statement on Thursday.

The US embassy, also on Thursday, said: ‘Regardless of what Russian authorities claim, Evan is a journalist. He did not commit any illegal actions. Russian authorities have been unable to provide evidence that he committed a crime or justification for Evan’s continued detention.’

State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel on Thursday declined to speak publicly about negotiations on a prisoner exchange, but said Washington was seeking the release of Gershkovich and another jailed American, former US Marine Paul Whelan, as soon as possible.

Gershkovich is often seen wryly smiling in his numerous pre-trial court appearances, where his detention is routinely set back. His family say the occasional glimpses of him are ‘always a mixed feeling’ 

The journalist’s appearances in Russian court always bring about a throng of cameras, as he is pictured standing defiantly in one appearance on September 19, 2023 

Tributes and messages of support for Gershkovich have poured in since his arrest. President Biden is pictured paying his respects at the White House Correspondents Dinner a month after his arrest in April 2023 

The Kremlin said the case and the trial arrangements were matters for the court. 

The Kremlin has stated in the past – without publishing evidence – that Gershkovich was caught spying ‘red-handed’.

US officials have repeatedly accused Russia of using Gershkovich and Whelan as bargaining chips for a possible prisoner exchange.

Washington considers both men ‘wrongfully detained’ and says it is committed to bringing them home.

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is open to a prisoner exchange involving Gershkovich and that contacts with the United States have taken place but must remain secret.

Since Russian troops entered Ukraine in 2022, Moscow and Washington have conducted just one high profile prisoner swap: Russia released basketball star Brittney Griner, held for smuggling cannabis, in return for arms dealer Viktor Bout, jailed for terrorism-related offences in the United States.

More to follow.