Journalist Evan Gershkovich part of multi-country prison swap
After more than a year, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been released as part of a major prison swap between countries including Russia.
A massive prisoner swap involving countries including the United States and Russia took place Thursday, the New York Times and other news outlets reported.
Journalist Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested on espionage charges more than a year ago while reporting on assignment, is part of the exchange, the Wall Street Journal confirmed. The news caps off what supporters are calling end of a major advocacy campaign — #FreeEvan — which united newsrooms, sports fans, politicians, and civil rights activists to bring Gershkovich home. Some of Gershkovich’s colleagues took to social media, tweaking the hashtag to a past tensed #FreedEvan.
Gershkovich, 32, and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan are reportedly part of what news outlets are describing as a “major multi-country prisoner swap” involving 24 adults imprisoned in seven different counties. The Wall Street Journal called it the largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War.
Elected officials of both parties from Pennsylvania, including Democratic Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman, and U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly (R), Chris Deluzio (D), and Guy Reschenthaler (R), have called for Gershkovich’s and Whelan’s release, as well as the release of teacher Marc Fogel, who is from Butler, Pa., and has been imprisoned in Russia for three years for possessing marijuana that he said he used for medical reasons. Additional information on Fogel’s status was not immediately available.
In Philadelphia, where Gershkovich’s sister and parents live, Arsenal Football Club supporters gathered Tuesday, a day before Arsenal’s friendly stateside match against Liverpool set at Lincoln Financial Field. Gershkovich is an avid Arsenal fan, inspiring fans to rally for him while he was imprisoned.
“We call to #FreeEvan,” an Arsenal fan from Indianapolis posted on X (formerly Twitter) along with a photo from the event. “Arsenal supporters gather … and bring light to his wrongful imprisonment.”
Here’s what else we know.
Why was Evan Gershkovich arrested?
Gershkovich was detained while on a reporting assignment in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg by Russia’s Federal Security Service in March 2023. He was accused of spying for the CIA, which he and the Wall Street Journal have denied.
Gershkovich has a history of reporting on Russia, citing his parents — Soviet-born Jewish immigrants who settled and raised their children in New Jersey — for his fascination with the country. He has written and worked for the New York Times, Moscow Times, and Agence France-Presse. He moved to Russia in 2017 to begin his international reporting career and has won several awards for his environmental reporting.
How long was Evan Gershkovich detained?
Gershkovich was first detained on March 29, 2023. Last month, he was convicted in what critics have characterized as a hasty and wrongful espionage trial in which he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. As of Wednesday, the #FreeEvan advocacy website says he was imprisoned for 490 days.
Loved ones noted that Gershkovich’s head had been shaved in prison. His colleagues and friends shaved their heads last month in solidarity.
Which prisoners are involved in the exchange?
Details remain scarce, but Bloomberg reported that Gershkovich and Whelan were expected to be part of the release along with Russian journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza — a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post Opinions contributor who was sentenced to 25 years for treason because he criticized the war in Ukraine.
According to The Hill, on Wednesday, at least seven notable Russian dissidents had been moved unexpectedly within their respective prisons. Russian state media RIA reported that attorneys for Alexander Vinnik, a Russian imprisoned in the United States, would also be involved in an exchange.
The BBC reports Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty editor Alsu Kurmasheva will also be released.
The New York Times reported Thursday morning that the exchange took place at an airport in Ankara, Turkey, involving the two dozen previously imprisoned adults.