RIGA, Latvia — A Moscow court docket on Thursday rejected an enchantment by jailed American journalist Evan Gershkovich towards Russia’s continued detention of him within the high-security Lefortovo jail, that means he’ll stay imprisoned on spying expenses that the US authorities and his employer, the Wall Avenue Journal, say have been fabricated.
Russian safety brokers arrested Gershkovich whereas he was on a reporting journey in Yekaterinburg, close to the Ural mountains, in March. Russian officers have barred U.S. Embassy officers from visiting him in jail since April, when Ambassador Lynne M. Tracy met him for the primary time.
At Thursday’s listening to, Gershkovich appealed a Could court docket resolution to increase his detention in Lefortovo jail till Aug. 30. It was the third time his appeals towards his detention have been dismissed.
Tracy was current within the court docket on Thursday, and Russian media confirmed video of Gershkovich carrying a darkish shirt and denims, standing within the glass prisoner’s dock within the courtroom.
Gershkovich faces as much as 20 years in jail within the first case of Russian espionage expenses towards an accredited international journalist for the reason that Chilly Battle.
Russian officers have taken an unusually harsh tone on the case, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov instantly claiming with out proof that the journalist was “caught red-handed.” Overseas Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova insisted that Gershkovich’s actions had nothing to do with journalism.
The US has declared Gershkovich to be wrongfully detained together with one other American, Paul Whelan, who was jailed in 2018 and convicted on spying expenses in 2020. Whelan is now serving a 16-year sentence. President Biden, Congress, and editors and journalists around the globe have referred to as for Gershkovich’s launch.
Russia’s deputy international minister, Sergei Ryabkov, advised journalists on Thursday that Russia was contemplating one other request from the U.S. Embassy for consular entry, however no resolution had been made. In April, Ryabkov mentioned Moscow is likely to be keen to debate a prisoner alternate involving Gershkovich, however solely after his trial was full, a course of prone to take months.