LONDON — The espionage trial of The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich resumed on Thursday, proceeding behind closed doors in a remote Russian courtroom after Washington and Moscow officials each raised the potential for the journalist to be part of an international prisoner exchange.
Gershkovich’s court date had been moved forward from August 13 after a request from his defense team, Grainne McCarthy, an international editor at the Journal, told staff in an email on Wednesday.
“The process remains opaque but what we do know is that the sooner this is over, the better,” McCarthy wrote in the email, which was shared with ABC News. “Evan cannot be freed soon enough.”
The trial of Gershkovich, a 32-year-old American, began in June behind closed doors in Sverdlovsk Regional Court in Yekaterinburg, a city hundreds of miles from Moscow. A second closed-door hearing began Thursday morning. U.S. officials accused the Kremlin of using the case “to achieve its political objectives.”
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who stands trial on spying charges, is seen inside an enclosure for defendants before a court hearing in Yekaterinburg, Russia June 26, 2024.
Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters
Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 while reporting in the Sverdlovsk region, where Russian officials claimed he was collecting secrets on the “production and repair of military equipment” for the CIA. The indictment against Gershkovich was approved by prosecutors in June, sending the case to the regional court for trial.
Prosecutors began at the June 26 hearing to lay out their evidence against the journalist. Whatever evidence Russia has against the journalist hasn’t been publicly released, according to U.S. officials. The trial amounted to “a performance put on by Russian authorities to justify their repression of journalists and independent voices,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in June.
“Russia should stop using individuals like Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan as bargaining chips,” Miller said, referring to a Marine veteran separately detained in Russia. “They should both be released immediately.”
A court bailiff blocks a hallway of the Sverdlovsk Regional Court during a hearing in the trial of US journalist Evan Gershkovich, accused of espionage, in Yekaterinburg on July 18, 2024.
Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images
During a United Nations Security Council meeting on Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield addressed Gershkovich’s detention, telling Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Americans wrongfully detained in Russia should be released.
“We will not rest until Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich come home, and Russia has ceased this barbaric practice of holding human pawns once and for all,” she said on social media afterward.
Lavrov following the meeting said that using journalists for intelligence gathering was “absolutely natural,” adding that Russia has “irrefutable evidence that Gershkovich was engaged in espionage.” But he also said an international prisoner exchange may be possible, echoing what Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously said.
“The intelligence services of the two countries, by agreement between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden back in June 2021, have been in contact to see if someone can be exchanged for someone else,” Lavrov said.
Russia and the United States carried out similar high-profile swaps in 2022 when WNBA star Brittney Griner was exchanged for Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms trafficker, and a former U.S. Marine, Trevor Reed, was traded for a pilot convicted of drug smuggling.
US journalist Evan Gershkovich, accused of espionage, looks out from inside a glass defendants’ cage prior to a hearing in Yekaterinburg’s Sverdlovsk Regional Court on June 26, 2024.
Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images
Russia has maintained that discussions about trades for Gershkovich can only start in earnest after the trial is over, Brian D. Taylor, a Syracuse University political science professor who serves as director of the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs, told ABC News.
“So the quicker the trial and the inevitable verdict, the quicker they can offer Evan as a piece in a possible trade,” Taylor said.
A general view shows a court building before a hearing of the case of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who stands trial on spying charges in Yekaterinburg, Russia June 26, 2024.
Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters
Miller, of the State Department, said in June that the U.S. continued to negotiate for Whelan’s and Gershkovich’s releases in private discussions, including putting a “significant” offer on the table months earlier.
“We shouldn’t have to do that. They should both be released immediately, but we will continue our efforts,” he said. “Those have been happening before Evan’s trial, they will continue during the trial. And should he be convicted — which, of course, he will be, it’s not a free trial — they will continue after the trial. But we want to see him returned home immediately.”
ABC News’ Mike Levine, Will Gretsky, Joe Simonetti and Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.
The espionage trial of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been making headlines as tensions between the United States and Russia continue to escalate. Gershkovich, a Moscow-based journalist, was arrested by Russian authorities last month on charges of espionage. The accusations against him have sparked outrage in the international community and raised concerns about press freedom in Russia.
The trial, which is being closely monitored by human rights organizations and media outlets around the world, has been shrouded in secrecy. Russian authorities have provided little information about the charges against Gershkovich or the evidence against him. The lack of transparency in the case has raised suspicions that the charges may be politically motivated.
The United States government has condemned Gershkovich’s arrest and called for his immediate release. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has described the charges against the journalist as “baseless” and has urged Russian authorities to respect press freedom and due process. The State Department has also warned that the case could have serious implications for US-Russia relations.
In response to Gershkovich’s arrest, the US and Russia have engaged in high-level discussions about the potential trade implications of the case. The two countries have a complex economic relationship, with billions of dollars in trade flowing between them each year. The arrest of a prominent American journalist on espionage charges could have a chilling effect on business ties between the two nations.
The outcome of Gershkovich’s trial could have far-reaching consequences for press freedom in Russia and for US-Russia relations. If he is found guilty, it could further strain relations between the two countries and lead to retaliatory measures from the US. On the other hand, if he is acquitted, it could be seen as a positive step towards improving relations between Washington and Moscow.
As the trial continues to unfold, journalists, human rights activists, and government officials will be closely watching to see how it will impact press freedom in Russia and US-Russia relations. The case serves as a stark reminder of the challenges faced by journalists working in authoritarian regimes and the importance of defending press freedom around the world.
