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WSJ reporter suspected of espionage has no complaints about incarceration conditions

"He is in a two-bed cell, but has no cellmate. Evan will get a cellmate after he tests negative for coronavirus," the commission members said

MOSCOW, April 3. /TASS/. Wall Street Journal reporter and US citizen Evan Gershkovich, who is being detained on espionage charges, has no complaints about his incarceration conditions, members of the Moscow Public Monitoring Commission told TASS on Monday after visiting him at Moscow’s Lefortovo detention facility where he was placed by court order.

"We visited Evan Gershkovich. There have been no complaints about the incarceration conditions from him," they said.

Currently, Gershkovich is being kept at the Lefortovo facility’s quarantine room. While in isolation, the suspect will undergo a medical examination, will be tested for chronic diseases, and will speak with a psychologist. After that, a cellmate will be selected for him.

"He is in a two-bed cell, but has no cellmate. Evan will get a cellmate after he tests negative for coronavirus," the commission members said.

The Public Relations Center of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said earlier that Evan Gershkovich, "acting at the behest of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of an enterprise within Russia’s military-industrial complex." The reporter was detained in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg. FSB investigators opened a criminal case against the US citizen under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Espionage"). On March 30, Moscow’s Lefortovo district court sanctioned Gershkovich’s arrest until May 29.

In light of these events, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published a statement expressing deep concern for the safety of Gershkovich. According to the WSJ, Gershkovich covers Russia from his post at the newspaper’s Moscow bureau. US President Joe Biden has asked the Russian authorities to release the journalist.

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