Independent journalists and the media demanded the release of a colleague of Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent for the Moscow bureau of The Wall Street Journal, arrested in Russia. The letter was published by Meduza. The Insider supports the demands of colleagues and also considers the accusations against Gershkovich unfounded.
“On March 30, the FSB announced the arrest of our colleague, The Wall Street Journal correspondent, US citizen Evan Gershkovich. The secret service claims that the journalist was engaged in espionage, while the Kremlin claims that he was "caught red-handed." We, Russian independent journalists and representatives of civil society, consider such accusations unfounded and do not trust them.
The FSB claims that Gershkovich allegedly acted on instructions from the United States and collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex. However, this statement is not supported by anything – we are offered to take the word of the state security investigation. In the same way, we were offered to believe the FSB during the consideration of the treason case of our colleague Ivan Safronov. Thanks to a series of journalistic investigations, the details of the “treason” imputed to Safronov became public knowledge, and we consider it proven that Ivan was sentenced to 22 years in prison solely for his journalistic work. The similarity of the circumstances of the new "spy" case with the case of Safronov raises doubts about the credibility of the substance of the charge brought against Evan Gershkovich.
We believe that the accusations against Gershkovich are far-fetched and unfair. Evan Gershkovich has an impeccable reputation as a journalist whose work has always met the highest standards of journalism.
In turn, the FSB investigation has been destroying its own reputation for years through the hands of its own detectives, and society has long had no reason to trust these “professionals”.
We, Russian independent journalists and representatives of civil society, support our foreign colleagues who take risks by continuing to work in Russia and demand the immediate release of our colleague Evan Gershkovich.”
Among the signatories of the letter:
- Sergei Parkhomenko , journalist
- Dmitry Kolezev , editor-in-chief of the Republic
- Alexander Plushev , journalist
- Tatiana Felgenhauer , journalist
- Andrey Zakharov , journalist
- Andrey Soldatov , "Agentura.ru"
- Irina Borogan , "Agentura.ru"
- Egor Skovoroda , "Mediazona"
- Maxim Kurnikov , head of the Echo project
- Olesya Gerasimenko , BBC Russian Service
- The editors of "Popular Politics"
- Ilya Shepelin , journalist
- Maxim Martemyanov , journalist
- Zhanna Nemtsova , Nemtsov Foundation
- Olga Shorina , Nemtsov Foundation
- Ilya Ber , Checked.Media
- Veronika Kutsyllo , Polygon Media
- Tatyana Malkina , journalist
- Andrey Arkhangelsky , journalist
- Vasily Matenov , "Asians of Russia"
- Fyodor Krasheninnikov , political analyst
- Grigory Okhotin , OVD-Info
- Kirill Rogov , Re:Russia
- Olga Romanova , "Seated Russia"
- Anna Stavitskaya , lawyer
- Sarkis Darbinyan , Roskomsvoboda
- Andrey Borzenko , "Either / Either"
- Pavel Kanygin , "To be continued"
- Dmitry Butrin , Kommersant
- Zhenya Snezhkina , journalist
- Anti-war initiative inTransit
- Philip Bakhtin , Repost
- Dmitry Navosha , journalist
- Lev Gershenzon , founder of The True Story
- Mikhail Zygar , writer
- Maxim Trudolyubov , journalist
- Irina Malkova , The Bell
- Petr Mironenko , The Bell
- Kirill Martynov , Novaya Gazeta Europe
- Sergey Smirnov , "Mediazona"
- Dmitry Treschanin , Mediazona
- Dmitry Tkachev , Mediazona
- Maxim Solius , editor
- Elizaveta Osetinskaya , founder of The Bell
- Lyubov Sobol , politician
- Ekaterina Kotrikadze , director of the information service of the Dozhd TV channel
- Tikhon Dzyadko , editor-in-chief of the Dozhd TV channel
- Ivan Kolpakov , editor-in-chief of Meduza
- Galina Timchenko , publisher of Meduza
- Katya Arenina , "Project"
- Elizaveta Nesterova , "Mediazona"
- Regina Gimalova , correspondent for Nestka
- Anna Loiko , Sota editor
- Edition of the "Project"
- Editorial "Agency"
- Mikhail Zelensky , journalist
- Editorial "Siren"
Gershkovich was detained in Yekaterinburg on March 30. The Lefortovo Court of Moscow arrested him for two months on charges of espionage. Lawyer Ivan Pavlov commented on Gershkovich's arrest in a conversation with The insider. According to him, the authorities show in such a way that absolutely any journalist, both Russian and foreign, can fall under the article on espionage. The Russian authorities are also hoping to exchange the “taken hostage” journalist for some Russian citizen detained on a similar charge. Now Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison.