Local press club takes stand on US reporter convicted in Russia

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – The Youngstown Press Club is denouncing Friday’s verdict against American journalist Evan Gershkovich.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was convicted Friday of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison on charges that his employer and the U.S. government have rejected as fabricated.

In a statement from the Youngstown Press Club, its Board of Governors said:

“The Russian verdict against Evan Gershkovich is an outrage and a threat to a global free
press. The Youngstown Press Club steadfastly agrees that no journalist should ever be
arrested and detained for simply doing his or her job.
“This verdict represents a frightening effect on a free press as more foreign correspondents
flee Russia because, like Evan, they are easy targets for the Russian government, which is
eager to gain leverage over the U.S. He is a journalist wrongfully detained, being held, it is
assumed, for some future hostage swap. So far, there has yet to be such an arrangement from
the Russian government.
“Every day that Evan Gershkovich remains jailed is one day too long and we shall continue
to ‘Stand with Evan’ because journalism is not a crime.”

Youngstown Press Club

Gershkovich, 32, was arrested on March 29, 2023, while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. Authorities claimed, without offering any evidence, that he was gathering secret information for the U.S. Since then, he has been held in the Stalin-era Lefortovo Prison, largely cut off from the world and spending 90 percent of his time in a small cell.

Gershkovich is the first American journalist charged with espionage in Russia since the Cold
War.

In February, The Youngstown Press Club brought to light Gershkovich’s arrest and ordeal,
hosting Wall Street Journal Assistant Editor Paul Beckett in a community forum at The
DeYor Center for the Performing Arts. Beckett called Gershkovich’s detainment
“reprehensible” and called on the Russians to set him free. As of today, Gershkovich has been
held for 477 days in the Lefortovo Prison

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