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Moscow court to hold hearing on extending detention of WSJ reporter on August 24

Evan Gershkovich was detained in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg and charged with espionage under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code

MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. Moscow’s Lefortovo District Court will hold a hearing on August 24 on the issue of extending the term of detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, accused of espionage, a court source told TASS.

"The court will consider a motion filed by an FSB investigator for extending Gershkovich’s term of detention at 9:00 a.m. Moscow time on August 24," the source said. The court hearing will be held behind closed doors because the case involves classified materials. The reporter’s current term of detention is set to expire on August 30.

According to the Public Relations Center of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), 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 and charged with espionage under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code. US President Joe Biden said that Washington considers the journalist’s arrest as illegitimate and is demanding his release.