Evan Gershkovich has been imprisoned for a year

In the print edition, his employer The Wall Street Journal has kept the front page in a special section with a large blank field. Above is the heading:

“His article should have been here”.

Online, the newspaper has chosen to adorn the front page with a story about Gershkovich’s twelve months in Russian custody.

“Evan Gershkovich’s stolen years in a Russian prison”, is the title of the case, which includes an interview with the journalist’s parents and friends.

– It is a reminder of the dangers journalists face around the world in their quest to carry out their social mission, writes editor-in-chief Emma Tucker in The Wall Street Journal.

In a letter from the editor, she writes that Gershkovich has shown remarkable willpower and even humor.

– We are amazed at his – and his family’s – steadfastness in the face of such a cruel ordeal. But their strength does not change the fact that Evans’ imprisonment is a blatant attack on the rights of the free press, at a time when there is ample evidence around the world of the important role quality journalism plays in society’s understanding of world events and in witnessing to history, it goes on to say.

Accused of espionage

Gershkovich was arrested on March 29 last year during a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg, and has since been held in custody in Moscow. As recently as Tuesday, the detention was extended by three new months.

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) accuses him of spying on behalf of the United States, which both Gershkovich and the Wall Street Journal deny.

Gershkovich was the first American journalist to be arrested and charged with espionage in Russia since September 1986.

Several American newspapers, including The Washington Post, share the subject tag “WeStandwithEvan” on Friday.

– It is long past time for this talented reporter and innocent man to come home, writes editor-in-chief Tucker in The Wall Street Journal.

– Went to Russia to do his job

US President Joe Biden says on Friday that Washington is “working every day to secure Gershkovich’s release”.

– Journalism is not a crime, and Evan went to Russia to do his job as a reporter. He risked his own safety to illuminate the truth about Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine, he says in a statement on Friday.

Tucker writes in his own newspaper that they remain optimistic, and dependent, on Biden’s promise that Gershkovich will go home.

– Over the past year, we have also been extremely grateful for the tremendous support Evan has received from our readers, government officials and politicians from both sides, as well as the news media and well wishes.

Also read: Putin hints at prisoner exchange with Russian killer

Russian President Vladimir Putin has indicated several times that he is open to a prisoner exchange for Gershkovich.

It is the Russian Vadim Krasikov that he would like to have back. Krasikov is imprisoned in Germany, convicted of murdering a former Chechen rebel.

Also read: Sources: Navalny was to be exchanged for the “bicycle killer”