Page 10 - RusRPTAug24

2.0 Politics
2.1 Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich
sentenced to 16 years behind bars for espionage
A court in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg has sentenced US journalist Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison on espionage charges, following a trial condemned by the US government as a "sham." Gershkovich collected secret information about a defence industry company called Uralvagonzavod on orders from the CIA, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office lawyers claimed in a closed-door trial that concluded on July 19.
"During the trial it was established and corroborated with documents that the American reporter of the Wall Street Journal, Gershkovich, acted on the orders of the CIA in March 2023 as he collected secret information about the activities of the defence enterprise JSC NPK Uralvagonzavod in the Sverdlovsk Region, which produces and repairs military equipment. While carrying out the illegal actions, he made sure to use measures to evade detection," the agency said.
The American journalist was arrested in March 2023 while on a reporting trip to the city of Yekaterinburg, 1,000 miles east of Moscow, where he interviewed workers coming out of the factory.
Gershkovich was found guilty of being a spy in a closed trial, with no evidence made available to the public. In Russia, espionage charges carry a maximum
10 RUSSIA Country Report August 2024 www.intellinews.com