As the closed-door trial of U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich opened in a Russian court on Wednesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists denounced it as a travesty of justice and renewed its call for the journalist’s immediate release.
“U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich goes on trial today after nearly 15 months of unjust detention. Given the spurious and unsubstantiated charges brought against him, this trial is nothing more than a masquerade,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Russian authorities must put an end to this travesty of justice, release Gershkovich, drop all charges against him, and stop prosecuting members of the press for their work.”
Gershkovich’s trial started Wednesday, June 26, reports said. It is not known how long the trial will last.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) accused Gershkovich, a reporter with The Wall Street Journal, of collecting “secret information” for the CIA on a Russian tank factory in the Sverdlovsk region and arrested him on espionage charges on March 29, 2023.
-CPJ, 17 other journalist and rights groups, ask President Biden to designate journalist Alsu Kurmasheva as ‘wrongfully detained’ by Russia
Begum TV is a channel led by Afghan journalists in exile in France. (Photo: AFP/ Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt)
Threats, repression, conflict, and unrest: across the world, these and other
factors are pushing journalists into exile in record numbers.
In a striking development, exiled or soon-to-be exiled journalists now make up more than half of the people CPJ assists. Between January and June 2024, CPJ provided
financial support to 158 journalists; 101, or about 64% of these people had fled their home countries or were in the process of fleeing.
In a new CPJ special report, Emergencies Director Lucy Westcott explains why so many journalists remain insecure in exile.
More in the report:
-Feature: The exodus of Ecuador’s press
-Feature: Exiled Ethiopian journalists struggle
–CPJ’s recommendations on emergency visas
–CPJ emergency assistance information
We defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.
Muawiya Abdel Razek
Freelance, Sudan
Jam Saghir Ahmed Lar
Daily Khabrain, Pakistan
Zayd Abu Zayed
Quran Radio, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Myat Thu Tan
Western News, Myanmar
Mardonio Mejía
Sonora Estéreo, Colombia
Hamza Al Dahdouh
Al-Jazeera, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory