Ivan Gershkovich, the American journalist sentenced to 16 years in prison in Russia this Friday, built a reputation as a reporter determined to cover, despite the dangers, a country reshaped by conflict and repression in Ukraine.
A 32-year-old reporter for the Wall Street Journal, he was arrested and questioned in Yekaterinburg on March 29, 2023. A case of unprecedented severityto a foreign journalist from the end of the Soviet Union on baseless charges of espionage. It was in this city in the Urals that he was convicted at the end of an unusually quick process, with only three hearings behind closed doors.
In the courtroom, at the moment of the verdict, he stood with his head shaved — a common haircut for prisoners in Russia — and a beard growing on a tired face.
Ivan Gershkovich was accused by Russian authorities of “espionage” for collecting information about the Russian tank factory on behalf of the CIA. Gershkovich, his family, his employer and his country, Russia, have denied the allegations, which have not yet been proven, and denounced the case as fictitious and hostage-taking.
The Kremlin again this morning declined to comment on the situation, saying they were “sensitive cases”.
The humor in your letters
In pre-trial detention in Moscow at Lefortovo prison, run by the FSB (Russian Secret Service), Gershkovich explained in his letters in recent months that he suffered from the monotony of his detention. But she said she was in good spirits, using a lot of humor in her letters and keeping up to date with the latest gossip about her friends’ careers and love lives.
He is awaiting sentencing to be transferred to a penal colony, and theoretically, he should have more activities and social interactions, and see the sky more often.
At Lefortovo, prisoners are kept in extreme isolation and kept in their cells for 23 hours a day.
The family speaks of “resilience and indomitable strength.”
During the hearings, where journalists were allowed to film him for a few minutes, without speaking to him, the reporter would smile or make the heart sign with his hands at journalists he knew.
In December 2023, her family praised her “resilience and unwavering strength” in a letter published by the Wall Street Journal.
Unlike many American journalists who left Russia in the wake of the February 2022 attack on Ukraine, Gershkovich chose to continue reporting. Keen to describe the way Russians experience the conflict, he spoke to relatives of dead soldiers, critics of President Vladimir Putin and examined the effects of sanctions on the Russian economy.
At the time of his arrest in Yekaterinburg, he appeared to be working on important topics such as the Russian arms industry and the Wagner paramilitary group.
Extrovert and sociable
Originally from New Jersey near New York, Gershkovich distinguished himself by the quality of his reporting in the country of his roots, Russia, where he knew the rules and superstitions. His parents were Soviet Jews who left the Soviet Union in the late 1970s, instilling them in him.
After graduating in English and philosophy, he chose the opposite path and settled in Russia. In 2017, fluent in Russian, he moved from an editorial assistant at the New York Times to join the Moscow Times, a major English-language media outlet, which was barred by Russian courts in July.
For nearly four years, he has often used the repression of dissent, environmental disasters, the ravages of Covid-19 and Russian traditions such as the art of ‘baniya’, the Russian steam bath (sana).
Naturally extroverted, always ready to laugh, “he knows how to put all his sources at ease, because he always makes them feel that he cares deeply about their stories”, Pjotr Sauer, a journalist for the British newspaper The Guardian and a close friend of Gershkovich.
Football fan and amateur player
When he joined the AFP office in Moscow at the end of 2020, he continued in this vein, telling the story of a Russian dissident campaigning from prison or the daily life of firefighters battling a vast blaze in Siberia.
This football fan and amateur player also explored the history of Sherif Draspol, a club from the pro-Russian Moldovan breakaway region of Transnistria, who played in the Champions League in 2021.
In early 2022, he joined the prestigious company Wall Street Journal, weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In full irony, even while he was in prison, he joked with his mother in one of his letters, referring to the Russian porridge she made for him as a child, which filled homes and rooms across the country. According to him, this maternal diet prepared him for prison, “for better or for worse.”
The UN warns that Gershkovich’s detention “raises serious concerns”.
US President Joe Biden has pledged to continue working for Ivan Gershkovich’s release.
“Evan went through a terrible experience with remarkable strength. We will not stop our efforts to bring him home.”
At the UN, the Secretary-General’s spokesman said Gershkovich’s detention “raises serious concerns” regarding freedom of expression.
The UN Human Rights Office considers that journalists should practice their profession “in a safe environment, without fear of reprisals”, as Farhan Haq pointed out in statements to the media, “The UN calls for the release of all arrested journalists. Russia is simply doing their job.”
In Warsaw, Russian dissident Yulia Navalnaya also condemned the “unjust” sentence of the American journalist.
Charles Michael criticized Russia as “a travesty of justice”.
Outgoing European Council President Charles Michel condemned Russia as a “travesty of justice”.
“The Kremlin’s fear of truth and freedom is a sign of weakness. We call for the immediate release of Ivan Kershkovich.”Michael said in a message on social network X (formerly Twitter) that ended with the hashtag “Freedom Evan Gershkovich.”
Unusually speedy court proceedings
This Friday, the Russian judiciary sentenced American journalist Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison for espionage.
During the trial at the Sverdlovsk Regional Court, the prosecution asked for 18 years in maximum security prison. The court process was unusually quick, with only three hearings, two of which were this week, directly related to Moscow’s interest in shortening the deadline for the future.Exchange of Convicted Journalist to Russian Prisoner.
On Thursday and today, the hearings presented on the defense request should have been held in mid-August. Gershkovich, who spent 477 days in custody, pleaded not guilty and, like his newspaper, said he was only fulfilling his professional duty while in custody.
The 32-year-old journalist received the same sentence as former US Marine Paul Whelan, who was convicted in Russia of espionage in June 2020.