“After a closed trial with secret evidence, a Russian court on Friday convicted American journalist Evan Gershkovich of espionage — charges that the U.S. government said were wholly fabricated — and sentenced him to 16 years in a maximum security penal colony, according to Russian state media. The prosecution had requested an 18-year prison term on Friday, close to the 20-year maximum. Gershkovich was the first American journalist arrested in Russia since the Cold War and his case has grave implications for press freedoms.” (Via The Washington Post)
If you would like more context on this matter, please consider Thom Shanker, the director of the Project for Media & National Security at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs. He was named director after a nearly quarter-century career with The New York Times, including 13 years as Pentagon correspondent covering the Department of Defense, overseas combat operations and national security policy. Before joining The Times, he was foreign editor of The Chicago Tribune. He spent five years as The Tribune's Moscow correspondent, covering the start of the Gorbachev era to the death of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the communist empire in Eastern Europe. Shanker led a discussion on Gershkovich’s case with the Defense Writers Group a few weeks back.
If you would like to speak with Shanker, please contact GW Senior Media Relations Specialist Cate Douglass at [email protected].
-GW-
