The father of imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich called on world leaders meeting at the United Nations next week to stand up for freedom of the press and urge Russia to release him.
Mikhail Gershkovich came to U.N. headquarters with his wife and daughter at the invitation of U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Wednesday to spotlight his son’s nearly six months in a Russian prison on charges of espionage, which the Journal’s lawyers call “patently false.”
Their appearance came a day after the paper’s lawyers asked the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to urgently issue an opinion that Evan has been arbitrarily detained by Russia on the false charges. The request says “Russia has failed to produce a shred of evidence in support of its accusations” since the 31-year-old journalist was arrested on March 29 on a reporting trip to the city of Yekaterinburg, almost 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) east of Moscow.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Wednesday to spotlight his son’s nearly six months in a Russian prison on charges of espionage, which the Journal’s lawyers call “patently false.”
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to urgently issue an opinion that Evan has been arbitrarily detained by Russia on the false charges.
The request says “Russia has failed to produce a shred of evidence in support of its accusations” since the 31-year-old journalist was arrested on March 29 on a reporting trip to the city of Yekaterinburg, almost 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) east of Moscow.
His wife, Ella Milman, echoed the difficulties for the family but said they have been able to send letters back and forth to Evan “and it gives me comfort to see how strong he is.”
“We are glad he’s kept his sense of humor – teasing me that the prison food reminds him of my cooking,” she told U.N. correspondents.
She said the United States “will not rest” until Evan, Paul Whelan, who is serving a 16-year sentence on an espionage conviction that both he and Washington dispute, and all other wrongfully detained Americans “are home safe and sound.”
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