On Thursday, a court extended the 31-year-old’s detention until November 30. Gershkovich was arrested at the end of March during a reporting operation in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Among other things, he is accused of having collected information about the Russian arms industry. The reporter, his family, his employer and the US authorities deny the allegations of espionage.
The Russian judiciary has not published any evidence to support their allegations. The legal process against Gershkovich was classified as secret. He has been in Lefortovo prison in Moscow since his arrest. The prison is notorious for keeping inmates in near-complete isolation.
The reporter is the first foreign journalist to be arrested in Russia on suspicion of espionage since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991.