UN panel says Russia has arbitrarily detained WSJ’s Gershkovich

Russia has arbitrarily detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich under unsubstantiated claims of espionage and should immediately release him from prison, a United Nations panel said.

Journal reporter Dustin Volz reports, “The findings, released Tuesday but adopted in March, add to international condemnation of Gershkovich’s arrest and imprisonment in Russia, where he has been held since March of last year on an allegation of espionage that he, the Journal and the U.S. government strongly deny. The U.S. State Department determined Gershkovich was wrongfully detained weeks after his arrest and called for his release.

“‘There is a striking lack of any factual or legal substantiation provided by the authorities of the Russian Federation for the espionage charges against Mr. Gershkovich,’ the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded, adding that Russia has failed to refute the argument that its espionage charges were intended to punish Gershkovich for his journalistic work.

“‘Gershkovich’s arrest was…in fact designed to punish his reporting on the armed conflict’ between Russia and Ukraine, the group said. ‘Consequently, it lacked a legal basis and is arbitrary.'”

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