MOSCOW: A Moscow court said on Tuesday that jailed US journalist Evan Gershkovich will remain in pre-trial detention until at least March 30, ensuring he will spend at least a year behind bars.
Russian authorities separately arrested the dual citizen on Tuesday.
Russian prosecutors have charged Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich with espionage, the first time a Western reporter has been charged in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.
The White House, Gershkovich and his employers all deny the charges, which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years.
“Gershkovich will remain in custody until March 30, 2024,” the Moscow Court Service said in a statement after the hearing at the Moscow City Court.
The appeal was a technical challenge to an earlier decision to extend Gershkovich’s pretrial detention. It was beside the point.
His shock arrest by FSB counterintelligence agents in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg last March during an intelligence trip caused an uproar in Washington.
And the United States has criticized the Kremlin for his continued detention, which will mark one year on March 29.
“The allegations against Evan are baseless. The Russian government imprisoned Evan just because he was reporting,” Lynne Tracy, the US ambassador to Russia, who attended the hearing, told the court.
President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that he would like to see Gershkovich released as part of a prisoner swap.
Russia separately banned the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) on Tuesday, putting its staff and contributors at risk of prosecution.
The store’s name was listed in the Justice Department’s database as an “undesirable organization.”
In Washington, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the move curtailed free speech.
“Bargaining chips”
Washington has accused Moscow of arresting US citizens on baseless charges to use them as “bargaining chips” to secure the release of Russians convicted abroad.
Separately on Tuesday, Russia’s FSB security service said it had arrested a 33-year-old dual US-Russian citizen in Yekaterinburg – the same city where Gershkovich was arrested – on suspicion of high treason.
It said the woman, a resident of Los Angeles, helped Ukrainian organizations raise funds “for the purchase of tactical medical items, equipment, means of destruction and ammunition for the Ukrainian armed forces.”
Treason is punishable by up to life in prison under legislation tightened since the start of Russia’s military offensive against Ukraine.
