US journalist attends hearing in Russia in his trial on espionage charges that he and the US deny

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has attended a hearing behind closed doors in his trial in Russia on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently deny. Authorities arrested the 32-year-old journalist on March 29, 2023, while he was on a reporting trip and claimed without offering any evidence that he was gathering secret information for the U.S. The American-born son of immigrants from the USSR, Gershkovich is the first Western journalist arrested on espionage charges in post-Soviet Russia. The U.S. State Department has declared him “wrongfully detained,” thereby committing the government to assertively seek his release.