Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich went on trial behind closed doors in Yekaterinburg on Wednesday, 15 months after his arrest in the Russian city on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently deny.
The 32-year-old appeared in the court in a glass defendants’ cage, his head shaved and wearing a black-and-blue plaid shirt. A yellow padlock latched the cage.
Authorities arrested Mr. Gershkovich on March 29, 2023, while on a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg, in the Ural Mountains, and claimed without offering any evidence that he was gathering secret information for the U.S.
Journalists were allowed into the courtroom for a few minutes on Wednesday before the proceedings were closed. The hearing ended after about two hours, and the next one was scheduled for August 13, court officials said.
“Evan’s wrongful detention continues to be a devastating assault on his freedom and his work and an unfathomable attack on the free press,” the Wall Street Journal said in a statement. They noted he has already spent 455 days behind bars.
The U.S.-born son of immigrants from the USSR, Mr. Gershkovich is the first Western journalist arrested on espionage charges in post-Soviet Russia. The State Department has declared him “wrongfully detained,” thereby committing the government to assertively seek his release.