(NewsNation) — U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal, who has been jailed for over a year in Russia on espionage charges, will stand trial, authorities said Thursday.
“It was disappointing, but not unexpected. Evan had been held for almost 15 months in pretrial detention, so the natural next step was then to move to trial, even though they falsely accused him. It’s hugely unfair to him,” Wall Street Journal deputy editor Paul Beckett said.
Beckett joined NewsNation’s “Morning in America” to discuss the latest developments in Gershkovich’s case, saying he is likely to be found guilty.
“Given the nature of the system, if he goes to trial, we expect him to be convicted. It’s as simple as that,” Beckett said. “Obviously the charges are bogus, he shouldn’t have ever be in court in the first place. If you start from that premise. It’s not a huge surprise to then conclude that if they go ahead with it, they will find him guilty.
Gershkovich, 32, is accused of “gathering secret information” on orders from the CIA about Uralvagonzavod, a facility in the Sverdlovsk region that produces and repairs military equipment, the Prosecutor General’s office said in a statement, revealing for the first time the details of the accusations against him.
“I think it’s likely that Putin is amassing people to trade in his game of leverage with the United States. You see, Paul Whelan has been there for five years. Since Evan was taken, Alsu Kurmasheva, a reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was taken. So you just see this sort of amassing of hostages,” Beckett said.
The Biden administration has sought to negotiate his release, but Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Moscow would consider a prisoner swap only after a verdict in his trial.
