Almost a year and a half ago, as the full-scale invasion of Ukraine took hold of news headlines across the world, Russian authorities moved swiftly to amend the country’s legislation to establish a legal censorship regime.
In March 2022, authorities effectively banned the use of the word “war” and introduced fines and prison terms for discrediting the country’s military or the actions of Russian government agencies abroad and for spreading “fake” information about them.
Russia has a long history of media repression and journalist murders, and held at least 19 journalists as of late 2022.
This week, the brutal attack on Russian journalist Elena Milashina in Chechnya was yet another dreadful reminder of the risks faced by journalists reporting in the country.
After February 2022, as hundreds of independent Russian journalists fled the country to avoid landing in jail, a number of foreign correspondents continued reporting, and their work capturing the reality of a country perpetrating an unprovoked war in the heart of Europe became even more important.
It is at this moment that Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal accredited to work in Russia, went about his job: to research the facts and report the news.
As of Friday, he has been behind bars for 100 days and counting.
On March 29, Gershkovich was detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service on fabricated charges of spying.
The State Department has unequivocally declared that he is being held without justification.
This is the first espionage case against an American journalist in Russia since the Cold War.
It is also a disturbing signal to foreign reporters who continue to work within Russia.
The accusations levied against Gershkovich by Russia are demonstrably false.
Yet Gershkovich remains unjustly imprisoned, facing a potential 20-year sentence, held captive for seeking to shed light on developments within Russia’s borders, for pursuing truth amid a censorship regime.
His pre-trial detention was last extended for another three months by a Russian court in late May and authorities have established that official US visits will only be granted on a “reciprocal basis,” as Russia seeks access to a Russian national detained in Ohio.
These visits are a way to ensure Gershkovich is safe and in acceptable conditions, but the solidarity of the general public counts, too.
It is crucial to ensure that Gershkovich’s story is not silenced, because if it is, his work to inform us will have been in vain.
The outpouring of solidarity for Gershkovich and his family from around the world has been inspiring.
For over three months, Gershkovich’s family and his employers at Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal — joined by other media organizations and press freedom groups (including mine, the Committee to Protect Journalists) — have worked tirelessly for his immediate and unconditional release.
US officials, including President Biden and a unanimous Congress, have engaged in a series of appeals on his behalf.
One hundred days ago, Gershkovich was doing a public service to empower all of us with information about our world.
With his freedom threatened for doing the vital work of journalism, we are all threatened.
Journalism is a means toward public accountability, a way to obtain information that allows us to make daily practical or longer-term, consequential decisions.
Journalism is most certainly not a crime, and no journalist should ever be persecuted for reporting the truth.
Stand with Evan Gershkovich, and know that his freedom, his ability to report freely, is our freedom too.
Gypsy Guillén Kaiser is advocacy and communications director at the Committee to Protect Journalists. Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New York, she began her career as a journalist after graduating from New York University.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
