We call for the immediate release of Evan Gershkovich
Journalism is not a crime | Photo Credit: Twah Dougherty
Our friend Evan Gershkovich, a 31-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter, was arrested on Wednesday for espionage on patently false charges while on a reporting trip to the provincial city of Yekaterinburg, around 800 miles east of Moscow. His arrest has been widely condemned by the Biden administration, press-freedom groups and news organizations.
The allegations against Evan are indisputably absurd. He is a dedicated and accredited reporter who returned to Russia to cover the aftermath of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, a moment of which he was one of our finest chroniclers. Journalism is not a crime. The Russian government must release Evan immediately.
A Moscow court formally ordered him to be held until May 29 pending an investigation, according to Russian media reports, which said that Evan pleaded not guilty. Evan’s arrest follows a clear pattern of hostage-taking by the Putin government: It has only released Americans detained in Russia after their convictions—which in some cases have taken years—and in exchange for Russians held in the U.S.
This is the first step in what may be a long road. This Substack was created by a group of Evan’s friends living in the U.S. and abroad. We are doing everything we can to bring him home.