MOSCOW (AP) — Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was detained on espionage charges, arrived at a Moscow court Thursday for a hearing on a motion by the prosecution to extend his arrest.
Gershkovich arrived at court in a white prison van and was led handcuffed out of the vehicle wearing jeans, sneakers and a shirt.
A 31-year-old United States citizen, Gershkovich was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg while on a reporting trip to Russia in late March. He and his employer deny the allegations, and the U.S. government declared him to be wrongfully detained. Russian authorities have not provided any evidence to support the espionage charges.
Earlier in August, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy made her third visit to Gershkovich and reported that he appeared to be in good health despite challenging circumstances. Gershkovich was being held at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, notorious for its harsh conditions.
Gershkovich is the first American reporter to to face espionage charges in Russia since September 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, was arrested by the KGB.
