Evan Gershkovich, an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal, remains in a Russian prison a year after he was detained in Russia on an espionage allegation that he, the newspaper he works for and the American government have all vehemently denied.
On the anniversary of his detainment, his family is speaking to the media, hoping to shine more light on his plight in the hope that his release can be secured.
Keeping Evan Gerkovich in the news
NBC 5 spoke with Danielle Gershovich about the efforts to keep her younger brother in the news and the fight to bring him home.
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"We're just going to continue to try to keep Evan in the news as best we can. And we are so, so grateful to everyone, The Wall Street Journal, the incredible community of journalists in America and around the world, and every person is keeping Evan and their thoughts, reading his reporting and learning more about him," said Danielle Gershkovich.
She said the Gershkovich family is unable to speak to her younger brother on the phone, so they just have letters.
"He hand writes us letters and it's about once a week that I'll get a letter from him. I'm so amazed by him. He is working very, very hard to keep his spirits up," she said. "And these are, he's under very hard conditions right now and he's just always been very strong and resilient, but I know it takes a lot of effort for him to still keep a sense of humor."
NBC 5 asked Danielle Gershvovich what she would say to her brother today.
"I would tell Evan, I miss you so much. And I'm so proud of you. And we are going to keep fighting tooth and nail, doing whatever it takes to get you home. Think about you every single day. And we can't wait to have you back," she said.
We don't want Evan to miss any more time, and we need him home as soon as possible
Danielle Gershkovich on the battle to bring her brother Evan home
There remains hope that Gershkovich will be released, and the most likely route appears to be through a prisoner swap, as was done to secure the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner in late 2022.
Evan Gershkovitch's detention extended
Gershkovich, 32, was in Moscow City Court on Tuesday, when a judge extended his detention until June 30, the fifth extension as he awaits trial. Photos released by the court show him smiling from the glass defendant’s box.
His parents, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich, and his sister, Danielle Gershkovich, talked with NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell:
Here's what to know about Evan Gershkovich's case:
Who is Evan Gershkovich?
Gershkovich, the son of Jewish immigrants who left the Soviet Union in the 1970s, was raised in Princeton, New Jersey and graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine.
He was a news assistant for The New York Times, and a reporter for the independent news outlet Moscow Times and wire service Agence France-Presse before joining The Wall Street Journal in 2022.
What was Evan Gershkovich reporting on when he was arrested?
The family was excited when he moved to Russia in 2017 and his parents said they visited him there.
“We saw Russia through his eyes,” his mother said. “We were with such a great guide to a new Russia that we didn’t experience before.”
He loves writing, he loves travel, he really loves people — and a lot of his reporting was people focused, which is really his passion
Danielle Gershkovich on her younger brother Evan
Then came the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Gershkovich moved from Moscow, where he had lived and reported for six years, to London, but continued to report in Russia.
Of his arrest while on a reporting trip to Central Russia, his father said, “It was numbing. It’s hard to feel anything. It’s hard to think about anything.”
Now, his mother said, they are keeping themselves optimistic. “That’s the best way we can cope with it,” she said. “No pessimism.”
Before his arrest, Gershkovich had been covering the war in Ukraine.
Gershkovich, whom Russia’s Foreign Ministry accredited to work as a journalist, was arrested on March 29, 2023, while on a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg in central Russia.
At the time he was detained, he may have been reporting on the Russian mercenary military organization Wagner, a Russian reporter familiar with his plans told NBC News. The state-funded private military group played a large role in the Ukraine invasion and whose soldiers have repeatedly been accused of war crimes that include murder, torture and rape of civilians in areas it has occupied.
The group was also behind a failed rebellion against the Russian defense ministry, including a march toward Moscow in 2023.
I think it is a stark reminder of the importance of the freedom of the press ... He's an innocent man operating in a country where journalism itself has become a crime
Paul Beckett, Wall Street Journal assistant editor
Why does Russia say Evan Gershkovich was arrested?
He was accused of espionage by the Federal Security Service, or FSB, which alleged he was collecting “information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
Russia has not released evidence for its allegation against Gershkovich, and most court proceedings have been closed. He was denied bail and is currently being held in Lefortovo prison, where political prisoners are often detained.
What has Vladimir Putin said about Evan Gershkovich's detainment?
After the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an Arctic penal colony in February, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he had agreed with the idea of a prisoner swap involving Navalny, Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, another American imprisoned in Russia.
Like Gershkovich, Whelan has been designated as wrongfully detained, meaning the U.S. government is committed to working for his release.
US & World
WHAT IS THE U.S. GOVERNMENT DOING TO FREE EVAN GERSHKOVICH?
Gershkovich is the first U.S. journalist to be held in Russia on an accusation of espionage since the end of the Cold War.
President Joe Biden has called for his release, and U.S. diplomats are nearly always present when legal procedures happen in his case.
The United States government has publicly said he is not a spy and has never worked for the government and it has declared him to be "wrongfully detained," a terminology that essentially means that America sees him as a political hostage.
Outside the courtroom on Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, called the accusation against him “fiction.”
“Evan’s case is not about evidence, due process or rule of law,” she told journalists. “It is about using American citizens as pawns to achieve political ends.”
In a statement, The Wall Street Journal said, “It’s a ruling that ensures Evan will sit in a Russian prison well past one year. It was also Evan’s 12th court appearance, baseless proceedings that falsely portray him as something other than what he is — a journalist who was doing his job. He should never have been detained. Journalism is not a crime, and we continue to demand his immediate release.”
"We know that the White House is taking this case very seriously. And they're working around the clock to get Evan home," said Danielle Gershkovich. "President Biden made a promise personally to our family that he's going to get Evan home to us. But the job isn't done until he's here."
