BOGUS CHARGES Falsely jailed WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich has prison term extended AGAIN as he approaches one year behind bars
FALSELY jailed reporter Evan Gershkovich's detention has been extended once AGAIN after being locked up for almost a year by Russia on bogus spy charges.
The 32-year-old innocent American will now cruelly remain in custody at a notorious Moscow jail until at least the end of June.
Gershkovich has already spent 363 long and painful days behind bars.
He was pictured looking defiant and smiling today at the closed-door hearing, standing in a glass court cage wearing a blue shirt.
At the end of January, Gershkovich had his detention extended until the end of March.
And it has now been extended again until June 30.
The Wall Street Journal reporter was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on March 29, 2023, in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on trumped up charges of espionage.
Putin's spy service alleged that the reporter, acting on the instructions of the US, collected secret information about a Russian military-industrial complex.
But Russian officials have not yet provided any evidence to back up their false claims.
Both Gershkovich and the Journal vehemently deny the allegations, while Washington declares him wrongfully detained.
The US citizen has repeatedly launched appeals to secure his freedom - all have so far been rejected.
He is the first Western reporter to be jailed on espionage charges in Russia since the Soviet era, and he faces a prison term of up to 20 years if convicted.
The US ambassador to Moscow today demanded that Russia free Gershkovich and said that the Kremlin was using him and other American citizens as pawns.
Ambassador Lynne Tracy said the latest decision to extend Gershkovich's pre-trial detention "feels particularly painful, as this week marks one year since Evan was arrested and wrongfully detained".
She continued: "Evan's case is not about evidence, due process, or rule of law.
"It is about using American citizens as pawns to achieve political ends, as the Kremlin is also doing in the case of Paul Whelan."
Whelan, a former US marine, was arrested in Moscow in late 2018.
He was convicted of spying and sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has said it will consider a swap for Gershkovich only after a verdict in his trial.
But the US has previously claimed that proposals have been rejected.
For now, Gershkovich will continue to languish inside the infamous Lefortovo prison, known for holding the Soviet-era's most prominent political prisons in grim conditions.
Putin, 71, claimed in February he would like to see Gershkovich released as part of a prisoner exchange - sparking fresh hope for the reporter.
In remarks to controversial American TV pundit Tucker Carlson, he said talks between Russia and the US about a possible swap were ongoing.
However, the Russian tyrant made clear he wanted any deal to involve the release of a Russian jailed in Germany for killing a Chechen dissident.
Washington has accused Moscow of arresting US citizens on baseless charges to use them as bargaining chips to secure the release of Russians convicted abroad.
US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva was detained in 2023 for failing to register as a "foreign agent", a case denounced by her employers as politically motivated.
At least two American citizens arrested in Russia in recent years, including basketball star Brittney Griner, have been exchanged for Russians jailed in the US.
Putin fears the free press
VLADIMIR Putin is known for jailing members of the press as he fears any criticism of his despotic regime.
By the end of last year at least 22 different journalists were behind bars in Russia.
Arrest warrants have also been issued to capture Russian journalists who fled into exile at the beginning of Vlad's war in Ukraine.
Among those behind bars there now are two Americans: WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich and Radio Free Europe editor Alsu Kurmasheva.
Both are Russian-American and both were jailed on bogus spy charges.
Siberian journalist Maria Ponomarenko was sentenced to six years in prison last February for violating Russia's wartime censorship laws.
Dad-of-five Mikhail Afanasyev was arrested in April 2022 for spreading "fake" news about Russia's army and faces eight years in prison.
And in September 2022 a defence reporter from several prominent Russian newspapers - Ivan Safronov - was convicted of treason and locked up for 22 years.
He was accused - like Gershkovich - of gathering and sharing confidential information.
Alexander Valovm who edited an independent blog, was thrown behind bars for six years in December 2018 for 'extortion' - after criticising the government
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