- Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich has been accused of espionage in Russia and is under investigation.
- The United States has fought for his release, criticizing the accusations as “ridiculous.”
- Similar cases have surfaced in different countries, raising questions about press freedom and government surveillance.
The Russian government accused Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, who was being held in Russia, of espionage.
This was reported this Friday, April 7, by the Interfax news agency, which cites an unidentified source as the source of the information.
The WSJ journalist was arrested at the end of March, according to the Russian Federal Security Service, an organization that succeeded the Soviet KGB.
Gershkovich (31), who was staying in the city of Yekaterinburg, in the Ural Mountains area, according to Interfax, now has an investigation open for spying and collecting information on state secrets in the Russian military and industrial complex.
“Gershkovich was accused”, a source told interface.
According to the TASS news agency, the journalist testified and said that the charges against him are false.
In parallel, the outlet for which the American works also denied that Gershkovich was spying and demanded that he be released. “He is a trusted and dedicated journalist,” said the Wall Street Journal.
For its part, the United States has also fought for the release of Gershkovich by the government of Vladimir Putin. Biden called the spying allegations “ridiculous.”
United States and espionage
In recent years, there have been several high-profile cases of journalists accused of espionage in different countries around the world.
These accusations have generated controversy and raised questions about press freedom and government surveillance.
The United States, which now denies what happened in Russia, carried out one of the most outstanding cases: that of Julian Assange, founder of the Wikileaks whistleblowing website. Assange was arrested in 2019 after spending several years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault charges.
The US government charged Assange with 17 counts of espionage, related to the publication of classified WikiLeaks documents.
Assange and his supporters argue that he is a journalist and editor, and that the charges against him are an attack on press freedom.
Another case in the United States involves james risena Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who was subpoenaed by the Obama administration to reveal his sources for a story about a failed CIA operation in Iran.
Risen refused to comply and faced the possibility of being held in contempt of court. The case was eventually dropped, but raised concerns about the government’s ability to force journalists to reveal their sources.
Russia and China
In Russia, the journalist ivan safronov he was arrested in 2020 on charges of treason to the state. Safronov, who had worked for several major Russian newspapers before joining the Roscosmos space agency, was accused of passing classified information to a foreign intelligence agency.
In China, several journalists have been arrested or detained in recent years on charges of espionage or other crimes.
One of the best known cases involves cheng leian Australian citizen and presenter on the Chinese state-run English-language channel CGTN.
Lei was detained in August 2020 on suspicion of endangering national security and has been detained without trial ever since. His case has raised concerns about China’s treatment of foreign journalists and its crackdown on press freedom.
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