US journalist's arrest outrages Russian, Central Asian journalists

ALMATY -- Independent journalists and human rights activists in Russia and Central Asia have strongly condemned Moscow's recent arrest of a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter, describing it as a gross violation of human rights.

The incident also has sparked discussions about the growing risks that investigative journalists and independent journalism face in Russia.

On March 29, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) detained Evan Gershkovich, 31, a US citizen and correspondent of the WSJ's Moscow bureau, in Yekaterinburg.

Gershkovich was collecting secret information on an enterprise in Russia's military-industrial complex, the FSB claimed.

"The FSB investigation charged Gershkovich with espionage in the interests of his country. He categorically denied all accusations and stated that he was engaged in journalistic activities in Russia," Russian state news agency TASS quoted an FSB official as saying on April 7.

Gershkovich will be held in pre-trial detention at Lefortovo prison until May 29.

A Moscow court next Tuesday (April 18) will hear an appeal filed by his lawyers, Russian state media said, citing the court.

The WSJ has denied the espionage allegations against its reporter and demanded his immediate release.

Journalism is not espionage

Gershkovich is the American son of Soviet-born Jewish exiles.

This is the first time Russia has accused a US journalist of espionage since the Cold War, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The last case dates back to 1986, when the Soviet KGB arrested US News & World Report reporter Nicholas Daniloff. He was charged with espionage and transported to Lefortovo prison, which at that time was a KGB prison, where he was held for about a month.

Now 88 and retired, Daniloff has voiced his support for Gershkovich.

"It's a tough situation to be in," the veteran reporter said, Voice of America (VOA) reported on Wednesday.

"It's very easy to accuse journalists of espionage because some of the work is rather similar," Daniloff told VOA. "Digging up information, particularly information that's not widely known -- that gives something of an impression of espionage, although it's not."

Independent reporting in Russia has become increasingly perilous as the Kremlin has sought to control the narrative, even in domestic journalists' work.

Gershkovich, who arrived in Russia five-and-a-half years ago, according to his employer, was evidently aware of the dangers but was determined to do his job.

"Reporting on Russia is now also a regular practice of watching people you know get locked away for years," he tweeted in July.

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday called Russia's imprisonment of Gershkovich on spying charges "totally illegal" and told the reporter's family he was working for a release.

One day earlier, the State Department formally classified the reporter as "wrongfully detained".

Russian authorities continue to deny Gershkovich access to US consular officials, two weeks after his arrest.

"The question [of consular access] is under review," deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday according to state-run agencies.

Demands for Gershkovich's release

Gershkovich's arrest has outraged journalists around the world, including independent Russian journalists, who collectively published an open letter to their government on April 4, demanding his release.

The letter was signed by authors, journalists, human rights activists and lawyers, who said the FSB has disclosed no evidence to justify his arrest.

"[The FSB] expects us to take its investigators at their word," the signatories wrote.

"We, independent Russian journalists and representatives of civil society, do not believe these accusations and consider them unfounded," the letter read.

Gershkovich's colleagues said his reputation is "irreproachable, and his work has always met the highest journalistic standards".

"The FSB's reputation, on the contrary, has been destroyed over the years by its own agents. There is no reason for society to trust these 'professionals'," the letter stated.

The signatories reminded the FSB of the arrest of Russian journalist Ivan Safronov, who in September was sentenced by a Moscow court to 22 years in a maximum security prison on charges of "high treason".

"Thanks to a series of journalistic investigations, the details of Safronov's alleged 'treason' became known to the public, and we consider it proven that Ivan was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his journalistic work," the letter said.

"The similarities between this new 'espionage' case and the case against Safronov give us reason to seriously doubt the accusations against Evan Gershkovich."

In an op-ed published by the Moscow Times on Wednesday, Safronov's partner, Ksenia Mironova, drew parallels between the arrests of the two journalists.

"Only Russian citizens can be arrested for treason (as with Ivan), whereas espionage charges are reserved for foreigners (as with Evan)," she wrote. "While the authorities in Russia today can find a way to incarcerate anyone they please, being charged with treason or espionage remains an especially hard pill to swallow."

She called Lefortovo "Russia's most brutal prison ... where lights are kept on 24/7, showers are permitted just once a week and instead of a prison yard inmates get their fresh air in a 3-metre-square cage".

"Espionage and treason trials are held in absolute secrecy, which means that journalists are unable to track the progress of the case and relatives are not granted visitation rights," she added.

'No place for journalism in Russia'

The community of journalists in Central Asia also has condemned the charges against Gershkovich.

"There is no doubt that the American journalist did not do what the FSB accuses him of," said Azamat Kasybekov, chairman of the Independent Union of Journalists of Kyrgyzstan and editor-in-chief of the news website Bishkek.kg.

"This is pure politics."

"This is a common Russian tactic for exchanging prisoners or detained persons. Previously, the KGB did the same," he said.

Journalists are often the victims of this approach, Kasybekov said, since many of them are involved in investigative reporting, which means they look for evidence, usually in the form of documents.

"That is why it is easy to hang a charge like espionage on journalists, which we are seeing now," he said.

Gershkovich's arrest was a gross violation of the reporter's rights, added Kasybekov.

The reasons for his arrest were spurious, and law enforcement did not even try to substantiate its accusations with evidence, instead opting to simply declare the case confidential, he said.

"In Russia, investigative journalism has become impossible, and there is basically no place for journalism as such," he added.

Lukpan Akhmedyarov, a journalist from Uralsk, Kazakhstan, and former editor-in-chief of independent newspaper Uralsk Week, described Russia's actions as "extortion".

"Russia is now in a situation where President Vladimir Putin's regime has only one tool left: political extortion," he said.

"For political extortion and deal-making, they [Russian authorities] even trade in human beings."

"This is blatant kidnapping in order to swap [Gershkovich] for someone else," Akhmedyarov said, adding, "Russian authorities already did this with American basketball player Brittney Griner."

Journalistic principles, such as objectivity, impartiality and criticism of the authorities, conflict with the interests of Russia's political elite, he said.

The Kremlin has replaced journalism with propaganda, and any attempt at real journalism is regarded as a subversive act, he said.

"Putin's regime has effectively eliminated journalism as a profession in Russia."