A US journalist goes on trial in Russia on espionage charges that he and his employer deny

YEKATERINBURG, Russia (AP) — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich went on trial behind closed doors in Yekaterinburg on Wednesday, 15 months after his arrest in the Russian city on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently deny.

The 32-year-old journalist appeared in the court in a glass defendants' cage, his head shaved and wearing a black-and-blue plaid shirt. A yellow padlock latched the cage.

Authorities arrested Gershkovich on March 29, 2023, while on a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg, in the Ural Mountains, and claimed without offering any evidence that he was gathering secret information for the U.S.

Russia has signaled the possibility of a prisoner swap involving Gershkovich, but it says a verdict — which could take months — would have to come first. Even after a verdict, it still could take months or years.

Journalists were allowed into the courtroom for a few minutes Wednesday before the proceedings were closed. Also briefly permitted in court were two consular officers from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, according to the embassy. The White House said the officials were not able to speak with Gershkovich.

The hearing ended after about two hours, and the next one was scheduled for Aug. 13, court officials said.

“Today our colleague Evan Gershkovich faced the Russian regime’s shameful and illegitimate proceedings against him," said Almar Latour, Dow Jones CEO and publisher of the Journal, and Emma Tucker, its top editor.

“It’s jarring to see him in yet another courtroom for a sham trial held in secret and based on fabricated accusations,” the statement said. “While we are told he’s doing well given the circumstances, Evan’s wrongful detention continues to be a devastating assault on his freedom and his work and an unfathomable attack on the free press.”

They noted he has already spent 455 days behind bars.

A top White House spokesman called the proceedings “nothing more than a sham trial."

“Evan has never been employed by the United States government. Evan is not a spy. Journalism is not a crime. And Evan should never have been detained in the first place,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday. “Russia has failed to justify Evan’s continued detention. He, like fellow American Paul Whelan, is simply being used as a bargaining chip.”

The American-born son of immigrants from the USSR, Gershkovich is the first Western journalist arrested on espionage charges in post-Soviet Russia. The State Department has declared him “wrongfully detained,” thereby committing the government to assertively seek his release.

The Journal has worked to keep the case in the public eye and it has become an issue in the months leading up to the U.S. presidential election.

After his arrest, Gershkovich was held in Moscow's notoriously dismal Lefortovo Prison. He has appeared healthy during court hearings in which his appeals for release have been rejected.

“Evan has displayed remarkable resilience and strength in the face of this grim situation," U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy said on the first anniversary of his arrest.

Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison if the court finds him guilty, which is almost certain. Russian courts convict more than 99% of the defendants who come before them, and prosecutors can appeal sentences that they regard as too lenient, and they even can appeal acquittals.

In addition, Russia’s interpretation of what constitutes high crimes like espionage and treason is broad, with authorities often going after people who share publicly available information with foreigners and accusing them of divulging state secrets.

Paul Whelan, an American corporate security executive, was arrested in Moscow for espionage in 2018 and is serving a 16-year sentence.

Gershkovich's arrest came about a year after President Vladimir Putin pushed through laws that chilled journalists, criminalizing criticism of what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine and statements seen as discrediting the military. Foreign journalists largely left after the laws’ passage; many trickled back in subsequent months, but there were concerns about whether Russian authorities would act against them.

After he was detained, fears rose that Russia was targeting Americans as animosity between Moscow and Washington grew. Last year, Alsu Kurmasheva, a reporter with dual American-Russian citizenship for the U.S. government-funded Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe, was arrested for alleged violation of the law requiring “foreign agents” to register.

Another dual national, Los Angeles resident Ksenia Karelina, is on trial, also in Yekaterinburg, on treason charges for allegedly raising money for a Ukrainian organization that supplied arms and ammunition to Kyiv. Several Western reporters have been forced to leave after Gershkovich's arrest because Russia refused to renew their visas.

With Gershkovich's trial being closed, few details of his case may become public. But the Russian Prosecutor General's office said this month that he is accused of “gathering secret information” on orders from the CIA about Uralvagonzavod, a plant about 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Yekaterinburg that produces and repairs tanks and other military equipment.

Not only is Uralvagonzavod strategically sensitive, it's also been a nest of vehement pro-Putin sentiment where an inquisitive American could offend and alarm. In 2011, a plant manager, Igor Kholmanskikh, attracted national attention on Putin's annual call-in program by denouncing mass protests in Moscow. Putin later appointed him as his regional envoy and as a member of the National Security Council.

Asked about the trial Wednesday during a conference call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refrained from comment, saying only “it’s necessary to wait for the verdict.”

A verdict in Gershkovich's case could be months away, because Russian trials often adjourn for weeks. The post-verdict prospects are mixed.

Although Russia-U.S. relations are troubled because of the conflict in Ukraine, the Kremlin and Washington did work out swaps in 2022 that freed WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was serving a 9 1/2-year sentence for cannabis possession. That exchange freed the highest-value Russian prisoner in the United States, arms dealer Viktor Bout.

The countries also traded Marine veteran Trevor Reed, serving nine years in Russia for assaulting a police officer, for Russian pilot, Konstantin Yaroshenko, who had been serving a 20-year prison sentence for conspiring to smuggle cocaine.

The U.S. may not hold another strong card like Bout to swap. Putin has alluded to interest in freeing Vadim Krasikov, a Russian imprisoned in Germany for assassinating a Chechen rebel leader in Berlin, but Germany's willingness to aid in a Russia-U.S. dispute is uncertain.

The Biden administration would also be sensitive to appearing to be giving away too much after substantial criticism for trading Bout, widely called “the Merchant of Death,” for a sports figure.

But Biden may feel an incentive to secure Gershkovich's release because of boasts by former President Donald Trump, who is his main challenger in this year's election, that he can easily get the journalist freed. Putin “will do that for me, but not for anyone else,” Trump claimed in May.

The Kremlin, however, says it has not been in touch with Trump, and Peskov has previously bristled at the attention given to a possible exchange, saying “these contacts must be carried out in total secrecy.”

He reaffirmed that Wednesday, adding: “It can only be repeated that this issue likes silence.”

—

Heintz reported from Tallinn, Estonia. Lynn Berry in Washington and Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Fifteen months after he was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, Gershkovich returns there for his trial starting Wednesday behind closed doors. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (AP Photo)

The Sverdlovsky regional court is seen while Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich attends a court session in a courtroom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Fifteen months after he was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, Gershkovich returns there for his trial starting Wednesday, June 26, 2024, behind closed doors. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (AP Photo)

The Sverdlovsky regional court is seen while Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich attends a court session in a courtroom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Fifteen months after he was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, Gershkovich returns there for his trial starting Wednesday, June 26, 2024, behind closed doors. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (AP Photo)

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Fifteen months after he was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, Gershkovich returns there for his trial starting Wednesday behind closed doors. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (AP Photo)

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, center, stands in a glass cage in a courtroom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Fifteen months after he was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, Gershkovich returns there for his trial starting Wednesday, June 26, 2024, behind closed doors. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (AP Photo)

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Fifteen months after he was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, Gershkovich returns there for his trial starting Wednesday, June 26, 2024, behind closed doors. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (AP Photo)

Journalists enter a courtroom to take photos and videos of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich prior to hearing in a court in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Fifteen months after he was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, Gershkovich returns there for his trial starting Wednesday, June 26, 2024, behind closed doors. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (AP Photo)

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Fifteen months after he was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, Gershkovich returns there for his trial starting Wednesday behind closed doors. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (AP Photo)

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Fifteen months after he was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, Gershkovich returns there for his trial starting Wednesday, June 26, 2024, behind closed doors. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (AP Photo)

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Fifteen months after he was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, Gershkovich returns there for his trial starting Wednesday behind closed doors. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (AP Photo)

FILE - Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a defendants’s cage in a courtroom in Moscow, Russia, on April 23, 2024. Fifteen months after he was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, Gershkovich returns there for his trial starting Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - A billboard calling for the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is seen in New York’s Times square on the first anniversary of his jailing in Russia, on March. 29, 2024. Fifteen months after he was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, Gershkovich returns there for his trial starting Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

FILE - In this July 16, 2018, file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands in Helsinki, Finland. President Joe Biden may feel an incentive to secure Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich's release because of boasts by Trump, who is his main challenger in this year's election, that he can easily get the journalist freed. The Kremlin says it has not been in touch with Trump. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and U.S President Joe Biden shake hands in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 16, 2021. Biden may feel an incentive to secure Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich's release because of boasts by former President Donald Trump, who is his main challenger in this year's election, that he can easily get the journalist freed. The Kremlin says it has not been in touch with Trump. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File)

FILE – Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was exchanged for WNBA star Brittney Griner, speaks to the media at an opening for an exhibition of his artwork at the Mosfilm studio in Moscow, Russia, on March 7, 2023. The U.S. successfully negotiated high-profile swaps in 2022 for Griner and Marine veteran Trevor Reed — both designated as wrongfully detained. Moscow Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence, and pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, serving 20 years for cocaine trafficking. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - WNBA star Brittney Griner is escorted from court after a hearing in Khimki, just outside Moscow, Russia, on Aug. 4, 2022. The U.S. successfully negotiated a swap for Griner and Marine veteran Trevor Reed — both designated as wrongfully detained. Moscow got arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence, and pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, serving 20 years for cocaine trafficking. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, visits the Uralvagonzavod factory in Nizhny Tagil, Russia, on Feb. 15, 2024. The Russian Prosecutor General's office said Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is accused of “gathering secret information” on orders from the CIA about Uralvagonzavod that produces and repairs tanks and other military equipment. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (Ramil Sitdikov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Ksenia Khavana sits in a defendants’ cage in a court in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on June 20, 2024. Khavana, 33, was arrested in February on treason charges, accused of collecting money for Ukraine's military. Independent Russian news outlet Mediazona identified her as Ksenia Karelina, her maiden name, and said she had U.S. citizenship after marrying an American. She had returned to Russia from Los Angeles to visit family. The rights group Pervy Otdel said the charges stem from a $51 donation to a U.S. charity that helps Ukraine. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Tatar-Bashkir service, attends a court hearing in Kazan, Russia on May 31, 2024. Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian national, was arrested in October 2023 in her hometown of Kazan. The Prague-based editor was visiting her ailing mother. She faces multiple charges, including not self-reporting as a "foreign agent" and spreading false information about the Russian military. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who was arrested on espionage charges, listens to the verdict in court in Moscow, Russia, on June 15, 2020. The 54-year-old corporate security executive from Michigan was arrested in 2018 in Moscow where he was attending a friend's wedding, convicted two years later of espionage, and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He maintains his innocence, saying the charges were fabricated. (Sofia Sandurskaya, Moscow News Agency photo via AP, File)

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, visits the Uralvagonzavod factory in Nizhny Tagil, Russia, on Feb. 15, 2024. The Russian Prosecutor General's office said Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is accused of “gathering secret information” on orders from the CIA about Uralvagonzavod that produces and repairs tanks and other military equipment. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (Ramil Sitdikov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich speaks with his lawyers in a court in Moscow, Russia, on April 23, 2024. Fifteen months after he was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, Gershkovich returns there for his trial starting Wednesday, June 26, 2024, behind closed doors. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (AP Photo/Alexander Melnichenko, File)

FILE - Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, right, is escorted from court in Moscow, Russia, on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. Fifteen months after he was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, Gershkovich returns there for his trial starting Wednesday, June 26, 2024, behind closed doors. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a defendants’ cage in court in Moscow, Russia, on Oct. 10, 2023. Fifteen months after he was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, Gershkovich returns there for his trial starting Wednesday, June 26, 2024, behind closed doors. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

NANTERRE, France (AP) — One year after a French teenager with North African origins was killed by police — a shooting that sparked shock and days of rioting across France — his mother led a silent march Saturday to pay homage to her son.

It comes at a politically fraught time. Hate speech is blighting the campaign for snap parliamentary elections taking place this weekend, and an anti-immigration party that wants to boost police powers to use their weapons, and has historic ties to racism and antisemitism is leading in the polls.

Several hundred family members, friends and supporters gathered in the Paris suburb of Nanterre to remember 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk, who was shot dead at point-blank range by a police officer at a traffic check on June 27, 2023.

Within hours of his death, Merzouk, a delivery driver from a working-class neighborhood, became a symbol. For many across France, he was the embodiment of young French Black and North African men who, studies show, face police checks and discrimination more frequently than their white counterparts.

At Sunday's march, his mother Mounia spoke to the crowd then broke off in tears. Friends wore white t-shirts with Merzouk’s photo, and fellow residents of his housing project held a banner reading “Justice for Nahel.” The march ended at the spot where he was killed, and an imam sang and read a prayer.

There was no visible police presence, though organizers of the march recruited guards to ensure security for the event. Merzouk's mother asked politicians to stay away, to avoid politicking or tensions the day before France’s parliamentary elections.

On Sunday, French voters will cast ballots in the first round of snap elections for the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, that could lead to the country’s first far-right government since the World War II Nazi occupation.

French opinion polls suggest the National Rally party could dominate the next parliament after the July 7 second round and get the prime minister’s job. In that scenario, Centrist President Emmanuel Macron would retain the presidency until 2027 but in a sharply weakened role.

“This march, happening now, it is a powerful symbol," said Assa Traore, who has been fighting for justice since her brother Adama died in the custody of French police in 2016.

“It means that history can’t write itself without us. We, from the working-class neighborhoods, are the firsthand victims of these elections. We realized, from an early stage, that the National Rally and far-right parties were a danger for our country and will weaken it," said the 39-year-old with Malian roots who will march alongside Merzouk’s family.

Merzouk's death, which was captured on video, stirred up long-simmering tensions between police and young people in housing projects and disadvantaged suburbs, many of whom are French-born youth with immigrant family backgrounds. Fueled by TikTok, riots spread with unprecedented speed before a mass police crackdown. The unrest caused, according to French authorities, more than $1 billion in damage.

The officer who fired the shot cited self-defense, and an extreme-right figure started a crowdfunding campaign for the policeman that drew $1.6 million before being shut down.

Citing security concerns, notably in housing projects and other impoverished areas in French suburbs or “banlieues,” the far-right National Rally wants to give a specific new legal status to police. If police officers use their arms during an intervention, they would be presumed to have acted in self-defense. Currently police officers have the same legal status as all French citizens and have to prove they acted in self-defense.

The left-wing coalition New Popular Front, meanwhile, wants to ban the use of some police weapons and dismantle a notoriously tough police unit.

“People fear the victory of the National Rally. But, we, people from working-class neighborhoods, are afraid every day that our sons, brothers, or husbands will be killed. Racism and racial profiling are our daily life," Traore said.

Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.

Follow AP's coverage of elections worldwide at https://apnews.com/hub/global-elections/

FILE - Flowers lay at the tomb of Nahel Merzouk on July 5, 2023 in a cemetery in Nanterre, a Paris suburb. One year after the French teenager with North African origins was killed by police, a shooting that sparked shock and days of rioting across France, his mother is leading a silent march Saturday, June 29, 2024 to pay homage to her son. (AP Photo/Cara Anna, File)