Wall Street Journal staff and reporters are celebrating today after the return of fellow reporter Evan Gershkovich to the United States after detainment in Russia since March 2023.
Gershkovich was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg while on a reporting trip for WSJ covering Russia’s war with Ukraine. His trial began in June 2024 and on July 19, 2024, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges.
The U.S. government maintained that Gershkovich was “wrongfully detained.” Wall Street Journal publisher Almar Latour and Top Editor Emma Tucker said the July 19 decision was a “disgraceful, sham conviction.”
“Journalism is not a crime, and we will not rest until he’s released. This must end now,” Latour and Tucker said.
Gershkovich, the American-born son of parents born in the USSR, is the first journalist from the Western world arrested on charges of espionage in post-Soviet Russia. Russian authorities claimed he gathered secret information for the U.S., but presented no evidence of charges against him.
Gershkovich, ex-U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva returned to the U.S. as part of a large-scale prisoner exchange. As reported by USA Today, 24 prisoners, the largest prisoner swap between the East and West since the Cold War, flew from Turkey and arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland before midnight on Thursday night. U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris greeted the former prisoners.
“This is an extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy and strengthening alliances,” Harris told reporters. “This is an incredible day and you can see it in the families and in their eyes.”
WSJ Editor and Chief Emma Tucker wrote in an open letter that the publication is grateful to Biden and his administration for their persistence and determination to bring the reporter home “rather than see him shipped off to a Russian work camp for a crime he didn’t commit. We are also grateful to the other governments that helped bring an end to Evan’s nightmare, in particular the German government, which played such a critical role.”
WSJ celebrates “this momentous day, we were determined to be as loud as we could be on Evan’s behalf. We are so grateful for all the voices that were raised when his was silent. We can finally say, in unison, ‘Welcome home, Evan.'”
Related stories:
Evan Gershkovich sentenced in Russia espionage case (augustafreepress.com)
Russia agrees to release WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich (augustafreepress.com)
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Rebecca Barnabi
