WASHINGTON — The U.S.-based team working to win the release of American journalist Evan Gershkovich from a Russian jail is eyeing the approach of the anniversary of his detention with a mix of hope and frustration as the ordeal heads into a second year.
Gershkovich, 32, will mark one year of detention in Russia on March 29. On that day in 2023, The Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested in Yekaterinburg for alleged espionage that he, his newspaper, and the U.S. government deny. He’s been held ever since in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison.
The anniversary will be an opportunity to increase efforts to win his release, said Paul Beckett, the newspaper’s assistant editor, who spoke on March 21 at a briefing in Washington to raise awareness of the anniversary and discuss the status of his case.
Beckett and other members of Gershkovich’s team said that although the anniversary was frustrating, they are determined to redouble their efforts to bring Gershkovich home.
“All that we’ve done hasn’t yet paid the one dividend we need it to,” Beckett said.
“We really need to re-up our efforts and go at it with an even greater sense of urgency to make sure that can end this as soon as we possibly can.”
Jason Conti, a lawyer for the newspaper, said the team is anticipating the scheduling of a hearing that under Russian law must take place before the anniversary.
The team, which includes Gershkovich’s sister, Danielle Gershkovich, and his parents, will learn whether prosecutors request an extension of up to six months or announce that they are ready to start the trial.
If it’s the latter, Gershkovich will be transferred from Moscow to Yekaterinburg for what would be a secret trial behind closed doors, Conti said.
Whatever the outcome of the hearing, Conti said that “nobody thinks the legal route is the path to get Evan free” because Russia’s conviction rate is more than 99 percent.
Conti said there has been a lot of behind-the-scenes activity on the diplomatic front, while publicly, Gershkovich’s case has been raised directly with President Vladimir Putin in recent weeks, most notably by U.S. commentator Tucker Carlson in an interview in February.
Putin told Carlson that an agreement could be reached involving a swap for a Russian national currently in jail in Germany, which was believed to be a reference to Vadim Krasikov, who is serving time for murder in Berlin.
Conti said the comment indicated “an expressed willingness to do a trade of some sort,” but on the other hand it created a “despicable” scenario in which an honest journalist must be dealt for a convicted criminal.
The process of “trading humans” is a difficult business, Conti said, but “that’s kind of where we are.”
The panel also raised the detention of RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who holds U.S. and Russian citizenship and is being held in pretrial detention in Russia on a charge of violating the so-called “foreign agent” law. The U.S. government and RFE/RL say the charge is in reprisal for her work.
Kurmasheva, who has worked for RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service for some 25 years, left Prague where she is based in mid-May because of a family emergency in her native Tatarstan, one of Russia’s many republics.
She was briefly detained while waiting for her return flight on June 2, 2023, at the Kazan airport, where both of her passports and phone were confiscated. After five months waiting for a decision in her case, Kurmasheva was fined 10,000 rubles ($109) for failing to register her U.S. passport with Russian authorities.
Unable to leave Russia without her travel documents, Kurmasheva was detained again in October and this time charged with failing to register as a foreign agent. Two months later, she was charged with spreading falsehoods about the Russian military. If tried and convicted, Kurmasheva may face up to 10 years in prison.
Unlike Gershkovich, Kurmasheva has not been designated as wrongfully detained, which would mean her case would be assigned to the Office of the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs in the State Department, raising the political profile of her situation and allowing the Biden administration to allocate more resources to securing her release.
Gershkovich was recognized as wrongfully detained less than two weeks after his arrest. Kurmasheva, who was arrested at a Russian airport on October 18 on her way home from a visit to her sick mother, has spent months in detention without the designation.
Beckett said it was a technical designation that the State Department must decide but added that it would be a “significant step for anyone who is being held hostage like Alsu.” Only the State Department can answer why it is taking longer in her case, he added.
The first anniversary of Gershkovich’s detention will be marked next week by a 24-hour read-a-thon of his work by his Wall Street Journal colleagues at the newspaper’s headquarters in New York and swimming events at Brighton Beaches in New Zealand, South African, Canada, the United States, and Britain.
The beaches were chosen in recognition of his family’s connection to Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, New York, which is home to a large Russian immigrant community. Gershkovich’s parents emigrated from the Soviet Union, separately, in 1979.
Beckett is encouraging people to use social media to share posts about their participation in the events at #IstandwithEvan to further raise awareness of Gershkovich’s case.
Danielle Gershkovich said she stays positive by exchanging letters with her brother weekly and remembering that he has maintained a sense of humor, recalling his smiles during his courtroom appearances.
She said she and her parents, Ella and Mikhail Gershkovich, have been able to support one another as they face their fears and advocate for his release.