By EMMA BURROWS (Associated Press)
Evan Gershkovich has been to Moscow’s courts twelve times in the past year, and it has become a routine for him.
He is taken from Lefortovo Prison to the courthouse in a van, led in handcuffs to a defendants’ cage, and faces a judge for another hearing about his pretrial detention on espionage charges.
The hearings are always closed, his appeals are always rejected, and his time in prison is always extended, then he returns to Lefortovo.
Gershkovich was arrested a year ago on a reporting trip for The Wall Street Journal to Yekaterinburg. He is accused of collecting state secrets on U.S. orders, but there is no evidence to support this, which he, the Journal, and the U.S. government deny. Washington has stated that he is wrongfully detained.
The court hearings allow Gershkovich’s family, friends, and U.S. officials to see him, and it gives the 32-year-old journalist a break from his otherwise monotonous prison routine.
Gershkovich’s mother, Ella Milman, told The Associated Press that seeing him in court is bittersweet: she is happy to see him and that he’s doing well, but it reminds her that he is not at home.
Despite often being seen smiling in open court, friends and family say he struggles with facing a wall of cameras pointing at him.
Before the most recent hearing on Tuesday, Milman was curious to see him after his cellmate gave him a haircut.
The hearing did not provide any new information on his case: He was ordered to remain in detention until at least June 30 — the fifth extension of his detention.
Gershkovich’s arrest a year ago — the first time a U.S. journalist had been arrested on espionage charges since Nicholas Daniloff in 1986 — was shocking, despite Russia enacting stricter laws on freedom of speech after the Ukraine invasion.
“He was accredited by the Russian Foreign Ministry, and there were no signs that this was going to happen,” said Emma Tucker, the Journal’s editor-in-chief.
Gershkovich, son of Soviet emigres who moved to New Jersey, went to Russia in 2017 to work for The Moscow Times before working for the Journal in 2022.
Milman said her son loved his life in Moscow.
He immersed himself in work and became close with other reporters. They spent time together at traditional Russian saunas, cycling around Moscow, or having barbecues in the countryside.
Those friends are now some of the most outspoken supporters of his release.
Francesca Ebel, a correspondent for The Washington Post, said, “For us, seeing Evan smile in court brings us a lot of happiness. It’s reassuring that he has not been broken by it.”
His supporters say that is impressive, considering that Gershkovich is being held in Lefortovo, a well-known prison used during Josef Stalin’s purges, when executions were carried out in its basement.
Gershkovich is not permitted phone calls and wakes up “every morning to the same gray prison wall. … To think that he’s been doing that every day for the past year is just terrible,” mentioned his friend, Polina Ivanova of the Financial Times.
He’s permitted out of his cell for an hour per day to exercise. He spends the rest of his time mostly reading books in English and Russian and writing letters to friends and family who try to ensure he stays updated with current events and gossip.
This includes following his favorite English soccer team, Arsenal, which is having one of its best seasons, although news usually reaches him about two weeks late. Gershkovich can only watch limited highlights on Russian TV but is kept informed by his friend, Pjotr Sauer of the British newspaper, the Guardian.
“He is very pleased with how Arsenal is playing but obviously upset he can’t see it for himself,” Sauer said.
Mikhail Gershkovich writes his son about chess strategy because his cellmate doesn’t like the game. They also discuss artificial intelligence because “he wants to be current when he comes back,” his father said.
No one knows when that might be.
The Biden administration is seeking the release of Gershkovich, who faces 20 years in prison. Russia’s Foreign Ministry has said it would consider a prisoner swap — but only after a verdict in his trial, which has not yet begun.
U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy, who was in court again Tuesday for his latest hearing, said the charges against Gershkovich “are fiction” and that Russia is “using American citizens as pawns to achieve political ends.”
Since invading Ukraine, Russian authorities have detained several U.S. nationals and other Westerners, seemingly bolstering that idea.
President Vladimir Putin has said he believed a deal can be reached to free Gershkovich, hinting he would be open to swapping him for a Russian national in Germany who fits the description of Vadim Krasikov. He is serving a life sentence for the 2019 killing in Berlin of a Georgian citizen of Chechen descent.
U.S. officials made an offer to swap Gershkovich last year that was rejected by Russia, and the Biden administration has not made public any possible deals since then.
Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Gershkovich wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “reporting on Russia is now also a regular practice of watching people you know get locked away for years.”
Proficient in Russian, Gershkovich knew the risks and, after his arrest, knew “right from the very start that this was going to take a long time,” Ebel said.
The Journal’s Tucker said she is “optimistic that 2024 will be the year Evan is freed but I’m also realistic,” noting that any negotiations for a swap are taking place against a “very febrile” backdrop.
This includes tensions with the West over the war in Ukraine, the recent attack on a Moscow concert hall and the U.S. presidential election.
Friends and family say Gershkovich is using his sense of humor to cope with the days. Tracy mentioned outside court on Tuesday that he has shown 'impressive strength and resilience in the midst of this serious situation.'
While in prison, he has arranged gifts for his friends' birthdays and sent flowers to important women in his life for International Women’s Day earlier this month.
Milman explained, 'He is advising people not to panic,' and added that her son is a source of great pride for the family.
However, as he begins his second year of detention, the pressure on them is becoming evident.
According to Milman, 'Every day, I wake up and check the time.'
'I think about whether his lunchtime has passed, and his bedtime,' she said. 'It’s very difficult. It’s taking a toll.'
