Hot News
Named: 28 Aussie banks refuse RBA’s rate cut in May 2025
How this Vietnamese entrepreneur won Google’s backing for her A.I. app
Billionaire Ray Dalio: ‘I’m worried about something worse than a recession’
Klarna’s nearing a critical U.S. IPO — and it’s the biggest test of CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski’s 20-year reign
Jim Irsay Dead at 65: Indianapolis Colts Owner Passes Away
Breaking News and USA Updates with USAUpdate24
  • Home
  • Breaking
  • USA
  • Business
    • CEO
    • Founder
    • Entrepreneur
    • Journalist
    • Realtor
  • Health
    • Doctor
    • Plastic surgeon
    • Beauty cosmetics
  • Crypto
    • Trading
  • Entertainment
  • Science
  • Sports
    • Athlete
    • Coach
    • Fitness trainer
  • Technology
Reading: Journalist Evan Gershkovich sentenced to 16 years by Russian court in case U.S. slams as a sham
  • bitcoinBitcoin(BTC)$109,551.70-1.69%
  • ethereumEthereum(ETH)$2,577.87-3.04%
  • tetherTether(USDT)$1.000.05%
  • rippleXRP(XRP)$2.38-2.27%
  • binancecoinBinance Coin(BNB)$673.06-1.42%
  • solanaSolana(SOL)$182.661.78%
  • usd-coinUSDC(USDC)$1.000.04%
  • dogecoinDogecoin(DOGE)$0.236763-1.67%
  • cardanoCardano(ADA)$0.79-2.36%
  • staked-etherLido Staked Ether(STETH)$2,576.28-3.05%
Breaking News and USA Updates with USAUpdate24Breaking News and USA Updates with USAUpdate24
  • Home
  • Breaking
  • USA
  • Business
  • Health
  • Crypto
  • Entertainment
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
Search
  • Home
  • Breaking
  • USA
  • Business
    • CEO
    • Founder
    • Entrepreneur
    • Journalist
    • Realtor
  • Health
    • Doctor
    • Plastic surgeon
    • Beauty cosmetics
  • Crypto
    • Trading
  • Entertainment
  • Science
  • Sports
    • Athlete
    • Coach
    • Fitness trainer
  • Technology
Follow US
©2025 USA Update24. All Rights Reserved.
Home » Blog » Journalist Evan Gershkovich sentenced to 16 years by Russian court in case U.S. slams as a sham
Journalist

Journalist Evan Gershkovich sentenced to 16 years by Russian court in case U.S. slams as a sham

Sophia Adams
Sophia Adams
Published May 1, 2025
Share

American journalist Evan Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum security prison by a Russian court Friday after he was found guilty of espionage in a case that his employer, The Wall Street Journal, and the U.S. government have condemned as a sham.

Gershkovich, 32, denied any wrongdoing in the case, which went to trial last month in the city of Yekaterinburg more than a year after he was arrested in the southern Russian city on espionage charges.

The Sverdlovsk Regional Court’s press service toldn a telephone interview that the state prosecutor had requested Gershkovich be sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment during closing arguments.

In a separate announcement, the court said Gershkovich had been found guilty of collecting secret information about the activities of a defense enterprise for the production and repair of military equipment on instructions from U.S. intelligence services.

The Sverdlovsk Regional Court’s Judge Andrei Mineyev remanded Gershkovich into custody until his sentence can be legally enforced. The journalist is also expected to cover the legal fees, amounting to just over $75.

His defense team has 15 days to appeal the sentence.

Russia has never published any clear evidence supporting its claims against Gershkovich.

And Jay Conti, executive vice president and general counsel for Dow Jones, WSJ’s publisher, told The Associated Press in a recent interview that the trial was a “sham” based on “bogus charges that are completely trumped up.”

The U.S. government has also condemned the charges against Gershkovich and considers him wrongfully detained.

President Joe Biden has repeatedly called on his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to release the journalist, who was arrested during a reporting trip. In the weeks after Gershkovich’s arrest, Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a news conference that the U.S. would do “everything in its power” to bring the journalist home.

Gershkovich’s detention also became a point of contention in the U.S. presidential race, with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump claiming in May that he could get Putin to free Gershkovich if elected. His comments drew swift backlash from Biden’s campaign.

Prior to Friday’s conviction and sentencing, Russia had repeatedly extended Gershkovich’s detainment, which has been condemned by journalists and government officials across the West, who see it as emblematic of the war Putin has waged against freedom of speech both in Russia and abroad.

Putin has signaled in the past that he believes a deal could be struck to free Gershkovich.

A possible exchange had been in the works that could have resulted in the releases of Gershkovich, former Marine Paul Whelan and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny,

The swap was not thought to be imminent when Navalny’s death in an Arctic penal colony was announced that month, five sources told NBC News.

At previous court appearances in both Moscow and Yekaterinburg, Gershkovich has often smiled and appeared in good spirits. But his detention has weighed on his family.

“It has been hard,” his father, Mikhail Gershkovich,  in March to mark the anniversary of his arrest. “He spent all four seasons there. He spent his birthday and all the holidays. We want him home as soon as possible.”

His parents left what was then the Soviet Union for the U.S. during the Cold War. Gershkovich and his older sister grew up speaking Russian at home, and the family calls him “Vanya,” the diminutive for his Russian name, Ivan.

His interest in Russia motivated his decision to move there in 2017 to work as a journalist.

But everything changed when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the family said. Like many other foreign reporters wary of Russia’s tightening grip on press freedom, Gershkovich moved abroad, albeit regularly returning for reporting trips.

Previous Article How much you need to earn in every state to afford a house
Next Article Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella: This 5-word piece of advice is ‘one of the best things’ anyone’s ever told me
Popular News
Rahul Yadav Indian Entrepreneur Expands Business to South Africa
Bryan Kohberger’s Amazon Ka-Bar records ‘catastrophic’ for defense, experts say
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu blasts ‘presidents who think they are kings’
Fox News Digital’s News Quiz: March 21, 2025
Mysterious radio pulses from the Milky Way ‘are unlike anything we knew before’
Supernovas may have played a role in two of Earth’s largest mass extinctions, study suggests
  • USA
  • Entertainment
  • Market
  • Science
  • Technology
  • Business
  • CEO
  • Founder
  • Entrepreneur
  • Journalist
  • Crypto
  • Trading
  • Health
  • Doctor
  • Plastic Surgeon
  • Beauty Cosmetics
  • Sports
  • Athlete
  • Coach
  • Fitness Trainer
© 2017-2025 USA update24. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?