American Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage after a closed-door trial that took place in record time at the Sverdlovsk Regional Court in Yekaterinburg. The first hearing was held on June 26. The prosecution this morning had asked for an 18-year sentence.
Gershkovich, 32, was arrested in Yekaterinburg, where he was working, in March last year. He was accused of having collected, on behalf of the CIA, information on the Uralvagonzavod tank factory in Nizhny Tagil. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denounced the existence of “irrefutable evidence” of the journalist’s guilt, evidence that no one has ever produced and, as many have noted, never will be. Lavrov also confirmed that negotiations were underway between the US and Russia for the exchange of prisoners.
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