WSJ Journalist To Remain In Detention - Moscow Court

Moscow's Lefortovo Court on Tuesday upheld a decision to extend the detention of Wall Street Journal (WSJ) journalist Evan Gershkovich for three months.

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"By the decision of the Lefortovsky District Court of the city of Moscow dated May 23, 2023, the period of detention of Evan Gershkovich was extended for three months and one day, i.e. until August 30, 2023," the court said according to Russia's main news agency TASS.

Gershkovich, was detained in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in late March by the Russian security service (FSB) on charges of espionage. 

At the time, Russia said the WSJ reporter was caught "red-handed" while trying to "collect information constituting a state secret about the activities of an enterprise of Russia's military-industrial complex."

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has called for Gershkovich's "immediate release" claiming that "the charges against him are baseless." Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department has designated the 31-year-old journalist as "wrongfully detained."

The embassy has twice requested a consular visit, which Russia has refused. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, this is "in response to the refusal to issue visas to Russian journalists" who intended to accompany Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the UN Security Council in New York last month.  

The Moscow court also rejected last month an attempt by Gershkovich's lawyer to release him on $622,500 bail offered by the WSJ's parent company.