Media News

UN asked to declare WSJ reporter Gershkovich arbitrarily detained

Evan Gershkovich

Lawyers representing Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones requested that a United Nations group declare reporter Evan Gershkovich arbitrarily detained and asked it to appeal to Russia to release him immediately, reports Joanna Sugden of The Journal.

Sugden writes, “In a letter Tuesday to the U.N.’s working group on arbitrary detention, lawyers for the Journal’s publisher accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of using Gershkovich as a pawn and of ‘holding him hostage.’

“The lawyers argue that Putin wants to use Gershkovich ‘to gain leverage over—and extract a ransom from—the United States, just as he has done with other American citizens whom he has wrongfully detained.’

“Gershkovich’s ongoing detention ‘is a flagrant violation of many of his fundamental human rights,’ the letter said.

“The working group investigates alleged instances where detention is imposed arbitrarily or inconsistently with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or international legal instruments accepted by the nations concerned.”

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.

Recent Posts

Is this the end of CoinDesk as we know it?

Former CoinDesk editorial staffer Michael McSweeney writes about the recent happenings at the cryptocurrency news site, where…

13 hours ago

LinkedIn finance editor Singh departs

Manas Pratap Singh, finance editor for LinkedIn News Europe, has left for a new opportunity…

2 days ago

Washington Post announces start of third newsroom

Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray sent out the following on Friday: Dear All, Over the last…

3 days ago

FT hires Moens to cover competition and tech in Brussels

The Financial Times has hired Barbara Moens to cover competition and tech in Brussels. She will start…

3 days ago

Deputy tech editor Haselton departs CNBC for The Verge

CNBC.com deputy technology editor Todd Haselton is leaving the news organization for a job at The Verge.…

3 days ago

“Power Lunch” co-anchor Tyler Mathisen is leaving CNBC

Note from CNBC Business News senior vice president Dan Colarusso: After more than 27 years…

3 days ago