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Gershkovich pleads not guilty of espionage, ready to prove innocence — defense lawyer

Maria Korchagina said the journalist is in good health and does a lot of reading

Maria Korchagina AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko

Maria Korchagina

© AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko

MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich refused to plead guilty of espionage and is prepared to prove his innocence, his defense lawyer Maria Korchagina told reporters on Tuesday.

"Our defendant hasn’t pleaded guilty and is ready to prove it," she said. "He plans to defend himself. He’s in a combative mood."

The lawyer said the journalist is in good health and does a lot of reading.

The Moscow City Court on Tuesday turned down a complaint from Gershkovich. The court ruling indicated that the defense sought to soften pre-trial restrictions, while the prosecutor insisted on leaving the current restrictions in place.

The Public Relations Center of the Russian Federal Security Service, also known as the FSB, said that 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. The FSB investigators opened a criminal case against the US national under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Espionage"). Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the journalist was caught red-handed. Moscow’s Lefortovsky District Court has ruled to take Gershkovich into custody until May 29. The WSJ said in a statement that it was deeply concerned about the safety of Gershkovich. US President Joe Biden asked Russia to free the journalist.

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