The Wall Street Journal reporter, who has been detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service for more than a year, will stand trial for espionage, prosecutors from the Sverdlovsky Regional Court said Thursday.
The indictment accuses the journalist, New Jersey-born Evan Gershkovich, of “gathering secret information” on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency about the operations of UralVagonZavod, the largest battle tank producer in the world.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller criticized the charges, declaring that the 32-year-old “Has done nothing wrong. He should never have been arrested in the first place. Journalism is not a crime," while demanding his immediate release.
The Journal’s editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker, joined her parent company’s CEO, Almar Latour, in releasing a statement that described the actions as “Russia’s latest move toward a sham trial.”
Gershkovich, who faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, is the first U.S. news correspondent to be arrested in the country over allegations of spying since Nicholas Daniloff in 1986.
There has been no indication as to when his trial is expected to begin.
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