Dow Jones asks U.N. Human Rights official to help with release of imprisoned WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich in Russia

Today is the 100 day mark of the imprisonment of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. He is the first journalist to be detained in Russia since the end of the Cold War. That is what makes his case notable, as opposed to other Americans being detained in Russia.

Fair or not, Evan’s case gets the kind of attention that other American detainees do not receive from the American press. He benefits by having the clout of his employer behind him. Though how far that clout goes is not fully known at this point, Evan was working in Russia, based out of the Wal Street Journal’s Moscow bureau. He is accredited by Russia’s Foreign Ministry to work as a journalist. His parents are immigrants from Russia and he speaks fluent Russian. He knows the people and the culture. Maybe that makes him too dangerous as a reporter. No one ever said that Mad Vlad Putin and his henchmen are rational actors.

Today the Wall Street Journal is launching a social media campaign with the help of its employees and other journalists. There is a hashtag – #IStandWithEvan – for those who want to show support.

🧵 One hundred days ago, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was detained in Russia during a reporting trip. He remains in a Moscow prison.

We’re offering resources for those who want to show their support for him. #IStandWithEvan https://t.co/ll83UMXlp5 pic.twitter.com/1WwAKD3Mn5

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) July 7, 2023

Wall Street Journal leadership has said all Americans have a stake in Gershkovich’s release because “a free press is pivotal to maintaining a free society.” Dow Jones CEO and WSJ publisher Almar Latour will be on “Special Report with Bret Baier” on Friday to provide the latest update.

Gershkovich is the first American reporter 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. Daniloff was released 20 days later in a swap for an employee of the Soviet Union’s U.N. mission who was arrested by the FBI, also on spying charges.

You can see an interview with his family HERE as they reflect on the 100 day mark.

WSJ editor-in-chief Emma Tucker said that Evan is in good health and his parents have been able to visit him in court. His spirits are “relatively good.” She was interviewed on Fox and Friends this morning. She noted that the U.S. ambassador was finally allowed to visit Evan in prison.

“It was great news for us that the ambassador got in, because we had been requesting – the U.S. government had been requesting consulate access and the Russians kept denying it. Finally, they agreed. This was only the second time the ambassador was allowed in and she was able to report back that he’s in good health and relatively good spirits,” Tucker said Friday on “Fox & Friends” during an appearance to mark the 100th day since Gershkovich was detained by Russia.

I wrote about a potential prisoner swap earlier this week. Today lawyers representing the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, asked a United Nations human-rights advocate to press Russia on the release of their reporter. The submission was timed with the 100th day of his detention. The lawyers urged Mariana Katzarova, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights in Russia, to demand Evan’s immediate release. They want her to work with Russia to ensure Evan can exercise his legal rights, have regular consular access, and ensure his health and safety, as well as prevent inhumane or degrading treatment.

“Russia’s arrest of him was a blunt and chilling warning to all those in Russia who would dare to exercise their rights in ways disfavored by the Russian government,” said the lawyers, including Dow Jones general counsel Jason Conti and lawyers for Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr in Washington. “Gershkovich’s detention calls for a clear and robust international response.”

The Journal is set to mark the 100th day of Gershkovich’s detention with an address to the newsroom by Emma Tucker, its editor in chief, and a “social-media storm,” in which Journal employees flood social media with messages about their colleague. Tucker and Almar Latour, the chief executive of Dow Jones and publisher of the Journal, called the 100th day a “poignant milestone in our ongoing fight to free Evan Gershkovich.”

It doesn’t sound like the Russians are budging, though.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that Gershkovich’s access to U.S. officials will be “dependent on the schedule and the discretion of the Russian side.”

Russian officials have complained that Moscow-based journalists weren’t granted visas to travel to the United Nations headquarters with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in April, and they have linked the issue to the denial of consular access to Gershkovich.

United Nations officials have criticized Russia over Gershkovich’s treatment in the past.

Dow Jones lawyers similarly appealed to Irene Khan, the U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion, to demand Evan’s release. She said Evan should be released immediately.

I’ve written in previous posts that it feels wrong that a reporter gets extra press coverage during his detainment. It is completely normal but I just wish that other Americans being held in Russia were given the same regular press coverage. Paul Whelan is also being held on a trumped-up charge of espionage. He was detained while in Russia for a friend’s wedding. And Marc Fogel, an American school teacher, was detained for drug possession. His case is very similar to that of Brittney Griner’s. The 61-year-old uses marijuana medicinally for pain, according to reports. He has taught at an American school in Russia for years. Whelan is getting more attention now, thanks to his family’s refusal to give up. Let’s hope Fogel begins to get the same soon.