Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years on charges his employer and the US have rejected as fabricated.
The background: while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains and has been behind bars ever since.
The 32-year-old was the first US journalist taken into custody on espionage charges since Nicholas Daniloff in 1986 during the Cold War.
The key quote: “This disgraceful, sham conviction comes after Evan has spent 478 days in prison, wrongfully detained, away from his family and friends, prevented from reporting, all for doing his job as a journalist.” — The Wall Street Journal.
What else to know: Gershkovich’s arrest shocked foreign journalists in Russia, even though the country has enacted increasingly repressive laws on freedom of speech after sending troops into Ukraine.
Closing arguments , where Gershkovich did not admit guilt.
What happens next: US President Joe Biden said Gershkovich did not commit any crime and has been wrongfully detained.
He said his administration was “pushing hard” for the journalist’s release.
