President Joe Biden and top political leaders criticized Putin’s “trumped-up charges” against American journalist Evan Gershkovich and demanded his release on the one-year anniversary of his detention in Russia.
On March 29, 2023, Russian authorities arrested American Wall Street Journal Russian correspondent Evan Gershkovich on charges of espionage.
He, his employer and the US government – including its top leaders – deny the accusations and have reiterated that the journalist has done nothing wrong.
President Joe Biden issued a statement on the one-year anniversary of his detention criticizing the journalist’s “unjust and illegal detention” and said he is still working on a possible prisoner exchange.
‘We will continue to work every day to secure his release,’ Biden said. “We will continue to denounce and impose costs for Russia’s egregious attempts to use Americans as bargaining chips.”
“And we will continue to stand firm against all those who seek to attack the press or attack journalists, the pillars of a free society.”
Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, looks from inside the defendants’ cage before a hearing to consider an appeal over his prolonged pretrial detention, at Moscow City Court on February 20, 2024.
Top Democrats and Republicans in Congress and President Joe Biden have claimed that Gershkovich is being unfairly detained.
President Joe Biden issued a statement Friday on the “painful anniversary” of Gershkovich’s “wrongful detention in Russia.”
‘To Evan, to Paul Whelan, and to all Americans held hostage or unjustly detained abroad: we are with you. And we will never stop working to bring you home.”
The 32-year-old has been detained in a Moscow prison since last year after being arrested in Russia’s fourth-largest city, Yekaterinburg.
He spends 23 hours a day in a prison cell, according to Wall Street Journaland meets weekly with his Russian lawyers.
Gershkovich has not yet started his trial.
His preventive detention has been extended five times and the latest of these has been extended further this week, according to Moscow court officials.
The journalist’s detention was extended for another three months and he will remain imprisoned until at least July 30.
What is even more horrifying is that he faces up to 20 years in prison in a Russian penal colony if convicted; However, as pretrial detention extensions continue, it is unclear when he will begin his trial.
President Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also criticized Gershkovich’s jailing in a unusual joint statement on Friday.
‘Evan Gershkovich, a US citizen and Wall Street Journal reporter, has been unjustly detained by Putin’s government for a year now.’
“We continue to condemn his baseless arrest, trumped-up charges and unjust imprisonment.”
“Today, Putin is restoring Soviet-style control through domestic repression and aggression abroad.”
The joint statement by congressional leaders is a rare display of bipartisanship in a politically divided Washington, DC.
Danielle Gershkovich, sister of detained journalist Evan Gershkovich, wears a pin that says #IStandWithEvan
“On the anniversary of Evan Gershkovich’s captivity, we reaffirm the importance of his work,” the joint statement from congressional leaders continued.
“Journalism is not a crime and journalists are not currency.”
“The Kremlin’s attempts to silence Evan and intimidate other Western journalists will not impede the search for the truth,” they wrote.
Despite comforting words from America’s highest-ranking politicians, it is not certain that they have made any progress toward securing his release.