A Moscow court on Friday extended by two months, until March 30, the pre-trial detention of Ivan Gershkovich, an American journalist from the Wall Street Journal, arrested in Russia in late March 2023 for “espionage”. “The period of detention of Ivan Gershkovich (…) has been extended by two months (…), until March 30, 2024,” the press service of the Lefortovsky court said in a press release published on Telegram.
The hearing was held behind closed doors. The court aired a video showing the 32-year-old journalist listening to the decision read by the judge, arms crossed, in a cage reserved for detainees. He was driven to court in a white van, then escorted on foot by a masked man and police officers.
Wall Street Journal reporter Ivan Gershkovich, who also worked for AFP in Moscow in the past, was arrested by the Russian Security Services (FSB) in March 2023 during a report in Yekaterinburg, Urals. He is accused. Espionage, a crime punishable by 20 years in prison, but he denies the charges, as does the United States, his newspaper, his relatives and his family.
