The Wall Street Journal reporter is the first US correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on espionage charges.
A Moscow court has confirmed the detention of Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist who was arrested on espionage charges as part of a sweeping Kremlin crackdown on dissent.
The Wall Street Journal reporter, who covered the war in Ukraine from Russia, is the first United States correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on espionage charges. Gershkovich and the US government vehemently deny the allegations.
Dozens of journalists entered the courtroom on Tuesday to catch a glimpse of Gershkovich, who smiled and looked calm as he stood inside a glass enclosure to appeal his detention.
“He has a fighting spirit,” Maria Korchagina, one of his lawyers, said after the hearing. “He trains and he knows people support him.”
The Russian security service FSB arrested Gershkovich on March 29 in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg and accused him of trying to obtain classified information about a Russian arms factory.
“Evan is a member of the free press who was engaged in newsgathering until his arrest,” The Wall Street Journal said in a statement. “All other suggestions are incorrect.”
If convicted, Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in prison.
Russian lawyers have said previous espionage investigations have lasted from a year to 18 months, during which time the suspect may have had little contact with the outside world.
Gershkovich is held in Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison, which dates back to the Tsarist era and has been a symbol of oppression since Soviet times.
Last week, the US officially declared that Gershkovich was “unjustly detained”. US President Joe Biden called his imprisonment “totally illegal.”
More than three dozen news organizations have signed a letter to the Russian ambassador to the US denouncing the “baseless allegations of espionage”.
On Monday, the US ambassador to Russia visited Gershkovich and said he was “in good health and remains strong”.
He was arrested at a time of bitter tension between the West and Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine and as the Kremlin cracks down on opposition activists, independent journalists and civil society groups.
Last month, a Russian court convicted a single father of criticizing the war on social media and sentenced him to two years in prison. His 13-year-old daughter was sent to a “rehabilitation center” for minors.
A Russian court on Monday sentenced opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza to 25 years in prison for treason for openly denouncing the war.
Another US citizen, Paul Whelan, corporate security manager from Michigan, has been imprisoned in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges, which his family and the US government have called baseless.