On March 29, 2023. Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was following a lead for a story. While he was in Yekaterinburg, approximately 800 miles east of Moscow, Gershkovich was arrested by the FSB, Russia’s main security agency, and accused of espionage. He is the first American journalist detained in Russia on such charges since the Cold War.
Gershkovich’s detention has been condemned by governments and news organizations around the world. On April 4, The NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss wrote to President Biden and said, “We stand with Mr. Gershkovich’s colleagues and Wall Street Journal management in denouncing the arrest and the charges against him as meritless.” Schleuss called on President Biden to declare Evan “wrongfully detained” to permit assistance under the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act. On April 10, U.S. officials designated Gershkovich as “wrongfully detained.”
July 7, 2023 marks 100 days since Gershkovich’s arrest. He remains locked up within the notorious Lefortovo prison in Moscow.
Evan Gershkovich is the American son of Jews who fled the Soviet Union for the U.S. in the 1970s. He grew up in New Jersey, attended public schools and graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where he wrote for the campus newspaper. He is a beloved son, friend and colleague. He is not a spy. He is a journalist.
Gershkovich’s continued detention is an affront to press freedom and an assault on the truth. No journalist should be arrested for doing their job.
Resolved
The NewsGuild-CWA continues to press the Biden administration to provide Gershkovich with assistance and to secure the bipartisan support of Congress in demanding his release. We call on the United States government to steadfastly pursue all appropriate efforts until Gershkovich is freed. TNG-CWA further calls on supporters of journalism everywhere to publicize Gershkovich’s name and his work. Freedom depends on a press free to report the facts without fear or favor.