Hearing for WSJ’s Gershkovich moved to Thursday

Proceedings in the secret trial of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich are set to resume Thursday, almost a month earlier than originally scheduled after a request from his defense team, reports Georgi Kantchev of The Journal.

Kantchev reports, “The next hearing was initially set for Aug. 13 but the court’s website on Tuesday showed it had been brought forward to July 18. According to a spokeswoman for the court, the decision to advance the hearing date was made after a request from Gershkovich’s defense.

“‘This is a sham trial that should never have taken place, just as Evan never should have been arrested,’ the Journal said. ‘The sooner it’s over, the better.’

“A U.S. Embassy spokesperson in Moscow said it expects that Russian authorities will continue to provide consular access to Gershkovich.

“‘We have been clear from the start that Evan has done nothing wrong and never should have been arrested in the first place,’ the spokesperson said. ‘Journalism is not a crime.'”

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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.