US journalist Evan Gershkovich in court as spy trial starts in Russia | BBC News

For nearly fifteen months, Evan Gershkovich has been locked away in a Moscow jail.

The US journalist went on trial on Tuesday, in Yekaterinburg - the Russian city where he was arrested on espionage charges while on a reporting trip for the Wall Street Journal.

Prosecutors claim that the American journalist had been collecting classified information about a Russian tank manufacturer near Yekaterinburg on behalf of America’s Central Intelligence Agency.

Mr Gershkovich, his employer and the US government vehemently reject the charge. If convicted the maximum possible sentence is twenty years in prison.

#EvanGershkovich #Russia #BBCNews

[angreyhewe]

This ought to be expected when you try taking pictures of a tank factory

[ljt]

Good job it didn't happen in Britain.

They would have illegally took him from a foreign embassy locked him up for 5 years without a trial on behalf of another country that had committed war crimes.

[jpyoung]

Remember they were trying to put Julien Assange in jail for telling the truth

[luciusdomitiusaurelianus]

He is a good journalist and he was just curious about Russian military production capacity LOL

[luciusdomitiusaurelianus]

Don't spy and you won't go to jail simple LOL

[williamshaw]

He’s a spy. Not a journalist.

Don’t go sneaky around other country’s military bases.

[barcaboy]

This clown thought he was in Zimbabwe. 😂

[onurdag]

I don’t think America would be interested in Russian tank technology, I think Evan was most likely writing an article, poor Evan.

[poquelin]

Can't wait to see how the guy will spend the next 14-or-so years in a high-security jail in self-isolation.
Hope he has children and wife at home too. Justice!

[vectorfox]

What if he got caught on purpose to initiate a prisoner swap? It’s a win-win for Russia

[auro]

he is thinking this would never have happened if he got a job in bbc

[graemepeters]

A mere 1, 800+ UA troops were added to the demilitarised scoreboard today - compared to the 2, 300+ yesterday and 2, 000+ the day before.
Still, that's over 6, 000 troops in 3 days, which will equate to 10% of the UA within a month! Kiev can't last until the end of the year!

[ms.chrisie]

Knowing how Putin loves a mystery death involving strange powder's there must be a really good reason this guy is still Definitely in my prayers 🙏

[Gaia-xvmt]

Well guilty or not his still going to the gulag in Siberia 😅😅😅😅 100% stay home people why go to Russia? 😅😅😅

[ScottishAtheist]

Look at the russian bot scrambling to contain this. Now that Assange is free, they've lost a major talking point.

[SStrudwick]

OT!!

Benny Hill considered funnier than Monty Python by two TV stations--WOR and WLVI.

[williamfraser]

If you cant do the time dont do the crime.

[SQuiz-eilb]

He is a good journalist, hope he could be free.

[gibau]

I believe the Russians. The BBC, lost all credibility even before having chosen to ignore Julian Assange.

[anthonybacoat]

This unfortunately is like Bourne Identity gone really bad. What was he actually doing there?? Why didn’t he receive advance warning to get the hell out of there?? He probably thought he could collect information without arousing Russian suspicion. If it turns out to be true that he was taking pics of Russian tank factories he’s totally screwed (unless however there is a prisoner swap deal).