Ayomide Adeoso.
The fact Russia tried journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva in secret says a lot about the charges against them, and about the system that staged these proceedings. Closing the trial, in violation of basic international human rights standards, reflects the reality that the case against these two U.S. citizens is trumped up and could not withstand even manipulated and limited public exposure, which is the only kind the Kremlin-friendly news media would have afforded.
The regime of President Vladimir Putin convicted Mr. Gershkovich, who is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, of espionage. A court in Yekaterinburg sentenced him to 16 years in prison. On the same day Mr. Gershkovich received his verdict, July 19, a court in Kazan found Ms. Kurmasheva, an editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, guilty of insulting the Russian army. Her sentence, which wasn’t disclosed until Monday: six and a half years.The fact Russia tried journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva in secret says a lot about the charges against them, and about the system that staged these proceedings. Closing the trial, in violation of basic international human rights standards, reflects the reality that the case against these two U.S. citizens is trumped up and could not withstand even manipulated and limited public exposure, which is the only kind the Kremlin-friendly news media would have afforded.
The regime of President Vladimir Putin convicted Mr. Gershkovich, who is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, of espionage. A court in Yekaterinburg sentenced him to 16 years in prison. On the same day Mr. Gershkovich received his verdict, July 19, a court in Kazan found Ms. Kurmasheva, an editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, guilty of insulting the Russian army. Her sentence, which wasn’t disclosed until Monday: six and a half years.