Russian authorities requested an extension of the pretrial detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, deemed by the U.S. to be wrongfully held in Russia, report Kate Vtorygina and Ann Simmons of The Journal.
Vtorygina and Simmons report, “Gershkovich, a 31-year-old U.S. citizen, was detained by agents from the Federal Security Service, or FSB, while on a reporting trip in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on March 29. He is being held on an allegation of espionage that he, the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny.
“His pretrial detention was initially set to expire on May 29, but was prolonged to Aug. 30 following an earlier request from the FSB.
“On Wednesday, the FSB put forward a request to further extend Gershkovich’s pretrial detention by an unspecified length of time.”
Read more here. A hearing will be held Thursday.
