The US State Department has given Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich the status of «wrongfully detained» in Russia. This is reported by the publication itself.
The Gershkovich case, the newspaper writes, will be transferred to the State Department department, known as the Office of the President's Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs. He is negotiating the release of hostages and other Americans who are unjustly held in other countries.
Officials explained that «the speed with which a decision was reached was unprecedented», as the process usually takes months due to bureaucracy. In addition, the assignment of status rarely occurs before the detainee has met with representatives of the American consulate, which Gershkovich has so far been denied.
Earlier, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he had «no doubt» that Gershkowitz was wrongfully detained. He noted that on April 2, he said this by telephone to the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sergei Lavrov. The status of «wrongfully detained» will allow US agencies to work together on options for releasing the journalist, the Wall Street Journal emphasizes.
Gershkovich was detained in Yekaterinburg on March 29 in a case of espionage (Article 276 of the Criminal Code). He was taken to Moscow, the court sent him to the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center. On April 7, the correspondent was charged, which he categorically denied. According to the FSB, a Wall Street Journal correspondent “on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of an enterprise of the Russian military-industrial complex.”
Ural journalists who met with Gershkovich said that he was preparing a text about the work PMC Wagner. Meduza reported that shortly before the arrest, the reporter visited Nizhny Tagil, where Uralvagonzavod, which manufactures tanks, is located. According to the reporter's colleagues, he noticed that he was being followed and assumed that his phone was tapped. The appeal against the arrest of the journalist will take place on April 18.
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