Russian court sentences US reporter to 16 years in prison

The fast-tracked Russian espionage trial of US reporter Evan Gershkovich reached its final stages at the Sverdlovsk Regional Court on Friday, in a case that Washington has condemned as a sham.

The court sentenced him to 16 years in "a strict regime colony," Judge Andrei Mineyev said.

The 32-year-old Wall Street Journal correspondent is the first Western journalist in Russia to have been charged with spying since the Soviet era.

"This disgraceful, sham conviction comes after Evan has spent 478 days in prison, wrongfully detained, away from his family and friends, prevented from reporting, all for doing his job as a journalist," Wall Street Journal publisher Almar Latour and its editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker, said in a joint statement after the verdict was read out.

President Joe Biden said he was "pushing hard for Evan's release" adding that the journalist had "committed no crime," but was being "targeted" by Moscow due to his work and his US citizenship.

What happened with the case?

Russian prosecutors had demanded an 18-year prison sentence for Gerschkovich, who pleaded not guilty to the charges. 

The sentence was passed in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, with proceedings drawing to a close after just two hearings.

The case has moved quickly since the first hearing in late June, with a second closed-door hearing on Thursday, almost a month earlier than previously planned. This was at the request of Gershkovich's defense team.

In the first hearing, journalists were permitted to enter the courtroom for a few minutes before doors were closed on the proceedings.

This week, however, no access was provided and Gershkovich was not seen, with no explanation given.

The speed of the proceedings has fueled speculation that a long-discussed US-Russia prisoner exchange deal involving Gershkovich may be taking shape.

What were the charges?

Russian prosecutors claimed they had proof that Gershkovich gathered "secret information" for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

He was accused of gathering information on the Uralvagonzavod defense equipment factory in Nizhny Tagil, a plant that makes and repairs tanks and other military equipment that lies to the north of Yekaterinburg.

Officers from Russia's FSB security service arrested Gershkovich in March last year at a steakhouse in Yekaterinburg, some 900 miles (1,400 kilometers) east of Moscow. Since then, he has been held in Moscow's Lefortovo prison.

Dismissed as a 'sham trial'

On Thursday, ahead of the conviction, the Wall Street Journal condemned "Evan's wrongful detention," calling it an "outrage since his unjust arrest 477 days ago, and it must end now."

"Even as Russia orchestrates its shameful sham trial, we continue to do everything we can to push for Evan's immediate release and to state unequivocally: Evan was doing his job as a journalist, and journalism is not a crime. Bring him home now," the paper said.

The US State Department says Gershkovich was "wrongfully detained," and that it is assertively seeking his release.

Washington has previously described the detention of Gershkovich and another US citizen, Paul Whelan, on espionage charges as "hostage diplomacy." 

Gershkovich born in the US to parents who left the Soviet Union

Gershkovich is the US-born son of immigrants from the USSR, and the first Western journalist to be arrested on espionage charges in post-Soviet Russia.

He and other US citizens jailed in Russia have become embroiled in tensions between Moscow and Washington over Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says his country is open to the possibility of a prisoner exchange involving Gershkovich, and contacts between the two countries have taken place.

Gershkovich has been held in Moscow's notorious Lefortovo prison since his arrest. He has appeared healthy during previous hearings that saw his appeals for release rejected.

rc/fb,rm (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)