By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A Wall Street Journal reporter, Evan Gershkovich arrested last month over alleged spying, was on Tuesday arraigned at a Moscow court in the first open hearing.
AFP says Gershkovich appeared wearing jeans and a blue checkered shirt, crossed his arms and smiled before the start of the appeal hearing against his pre-trial detention in a case that has drawn global backlash.
The WSJ reporter, a US-born son of Soviet Jewish emigres, was arrested last month by Russia’s FSB security service during a reporting trip in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.
The FSB said the 31-year-old tried to obtain classified defence information for the US government, but the details of the case have been kept top secret.
He, however, has firmly rejected the charges, which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Gershkovich, who has also worked for AFP, is the first foreign journalist arrested on spying allegations since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Since his arrest on March 29, Gershkovich has appeared in court only once before — at a closed custody hearing on March 30.
He was remanded in custody until May 29 and is being held at the Lefortovo prison in Moscow, where many high-profile prisoners accused of treason and espionage have been held.
