Closing arguments expected Friday for WSJ’s Gershkovich

Evan Gershkovich

Closing arguments are expected Friday in the espionage trial of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, reports Ivan Nechepurenko of The New York Times.

Nechepurenko reports, “Vladimir A. Zherebenkov, a Russian lawyer who worked on a similar espionage case, said the court’s proceedings were ‘fast.’ An espionage trial usually takes about four months in Russia but can take up to a year, according to lawyers who have worked on such cases. The first hearing in Mr. Gershkovich’s case happened on June 26.

“Mr. Zherebenkov said the court was likely to recess to formulate a ruling after the closing arguments, and that Mr. Gershkovich could make a statement too.

“The hearing on Thursday came a day after the Russian foreign minister, Sergei V. Lavrov, reiterated that Russia and the United States were holding talks on a possible prisoner exchange involving Mr. Gershkovich.

“Speaking on Wednesday at a news conference at the United Nations in New York, Mr. Lavrov also said that Russia had ‘irrefutable evidence’ that Mr. Gershkovich had been engaged in ‘espionage activities.’

“Because Mr. Gershkovich’s case is classified, his lawyers are prohibited by law from speaking publicly about the case, under penalty of imprisonment.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.