Russian court upholds detention of WSJ’s Gershkovich

Evan Gershkovich

A Russian court upheld the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, whom the U.S. government deems to be wrongfully detained, reports Ann M. Simmons of The Journal.

Simmons reports, “Tuesday’s rejection of the latest appeal by Gershkovich’s lawyers means he is set to remain behind bars until at least March 30, which would mark more than a year since he was taken into custody on an allegation of espionage that the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny.

“Gershkovich, a 32-year-old U.S. citizen who was accredited by Russia’s Foreign Ministry to work there as a journalist, was detained by agents from the Federal Security Service on March 29 last year during a reporting trip in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.

“Russian investigators haven’t publicly presented evidence to back up their espionage allegation against Gershkovich, who is being held at Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison. Moscow has said it is acting in accordance with its laws.”

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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.