The findings of a U.N. panel of international legal scholars cited that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arbitrarily detained in Russia. 

The panel's findings were released on Tuesday. The findings were adopted in March. It found that Evan is being held on unsubstantiated claims of espionage and it calls for his immediate release from prison. 

Evan has been imprisoned since March 2023. The allegation of espionage has been denied by Evan, the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. government, and his family. The U.S. State Department determined Evan was wrongfully detained weeks after his arrest. It, too, calls for his release from prison. 

The U.N. panel determined that Evan was arrested for doing his job as a reporter, as he wrote about the war in Ukraine.

“There is a striking lack of any factual or legal substantiation provided by the authorities of the Russian Federation for the espionage charges against Mr. Gershkovich,” the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded, adding that Russia has failed to refute the argument that its espionage charges were intended to punish Gershkovich for his journalistic work.

“Gershkovich’s arrest was…in fact designed to punish his reporting on the armed conflict” between Russia and Ukraine, the group said. “Consequently, it lacked a legal basis and is arbitrary.”

It isn't often these days that the U.N. does the right thing but in this case, the panel seems to have done its job. 

Evan had permission to work as a reporter in Russia. He is 32 years old and based in Moscow, reporting out of the WSJ bureau there. He was arrested in Yekaterinburg, about 900 miles east of Moscow, by the Federal Security Service, or FSB, while on a work assignment.

The publisher of the WSJ, Dow Jones, requested that the U.N. working group deliver a formal opinion on Evan's imprisonment last September. The group is comprised of lawyers and legal scholars from five countries. They were appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council (I know). The working group sought information from the Russian government about Evan's imprisonment in December. 

"Evan’s wrongful detention is a flagrant violation of his fundamental human rights, and we commend the U.N. working group’s opinion reaffirming what we have known since his unjust arrest: Evan is being arbitrarily detained and should be released immediately,” Almar Latour, chief executive of Dow Jones and publisher of the Journal, said in a statement.

“As the U.N. working group recognizes, Russia is violating international law by imprisoning Evan for his journalism, silencing critical reporting, and depriving him of due process and other rights,” Latour said. “We continue to call on the U.S. government and all world leaders to do everything they can to bring Evan home now.”

Evan is the first Western journalist to be held hostage in Russia since the end of the Cold War. 

Evan's secret trial began on June 26. Russian trials are held behind closed doors. His family and friends were not allowed to remain in the courtroom. He faces 20 years in prison if he is convicted. 

Russian investigators haven’t publicly presented evidence to support their allegation against Gershkovich. Russia’s legal system offers few, if any, of the legal protections accorded in the U.S. and other Western countries. Acquittals in espionage cases are exceedingly rare.

The court in Yekaterinburg said a lawyer for Evan had appealed the court's decision to extend his detention until December 13. His next court hearing is set for August 13. It is expected that Russian officials will stretch out the trial as long as possible. 

Will Putin listen to a U.N. working group panel? That is the question. Color me skeptical. Putin sees President Biden's weakness on the world stage. He takes American citizens in Russia as hostages with impunity to use them as leverage to secure the release of Russians imprisoned in other countries. 

Joe Biden's weakness in office as president makes the world a dangerous place for Americans. Let's hope Evan's time in prison ends soon. Generally, a prisoner is not included in a swap until the American has been found guilty and sentenced. With the trial dragging out, that will take a while.