Evan Gershovich, The Wall Street Journal reporter, wrongfully detained in Russia while doing his job, has been released in a large-scale prisoner swap. It's a wonderful, joyous day. We're beyond thrilled and delighted to see Evan freed. I think it's a really important day for the Journal. The release marks an end to a 491-day ordeal for Evan. Here's how his detention and the fight for his release unfolded: On March 29, 2023, Evan, who is accredited by Russia's Foreign Ministry to work as a journalist, was detained in Yadin BG. He was taken to Moscow and accused of espionage, making him the first American detained on such a charge since the Cold War. Evan, his family, The Journal, and the US government vehemently denied the allegation right from the start. President Biden made it clear: Let him go, in process, and the US quickly designated Evan as wrongfully detained, launching a broad government effort to exert pressure on Russia to free him. It was significant because having this label, having been designated

wrongfully detained would unlock the the absolute full efforts of the US government into getting him back. In mid-April, a Moscow Court upheld Evan's detention, denying him bail and ordering him held before trial in the city's notorious Lefortovo prison. This scene would play out repeatedly as his pre-trial detention was extended several times and each appeal rejected. On two occasions, Evan's parents traveled to Russia to attend his hearings. Here, on their second trip, video showed them speaking with him face to face. I was just beside myself, so happy we were in deeply in our conversation, we were smiling and laughing and uh, the guard brought me back to reality that I am in a courtroom, my son is in this uh, aquarium in this cage, and I had to realize where I was because I lost myself in that conversation. I was so happy to see him. On October 26th, Evan turned 32 in prison. As 2023 came to a close, the US State Department gave an update on its latest proposal to secure the release of

Evan and Paul, when another American imprisoned by Russia and considered by the US to be wrongfully detained. This was a new proposal in recent weeks. It was a significant proposal, and it was rejected by the Russians, but it will not deter us from continuing to do everything we can to try and bring both of them home. Then in mid-December, in his first public comments on Evan's case, Vladimir Putin provided an update of his own with success in an interview with Tucker Carlson. In February of this year, Putin made further comments on Evan's case. I just want to ask you directly if, as a sign of your decency, you would be willing to release him to us and we'll bring him back to the United States. In theory, we can say that we do not rule out that we can do that if our partners take reciprocal steps. It was good to hear his name being mentioned by Putin. At the time, we felt with the fact that he's bringing it out into the open is a sign that he's

looking towards doing a deal on February 9th, President Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Schulz met quietly in Washington. One of the agenda items was the possibility of a complex prisoner swap that might see Evan Paul Whan and the prominent Russian opposition leader Alexi Navalny freed in exchange for Vidim Kov, a Russian hitman serving a life sentence in Germany for murder. Both administrations agreed to explore the idea further, but just one week later and before the White House could make a formal proposal to Moscow, Alexi Navalny's death in a Russian prison sent shock waves around the world. I remember I felt sick. My immediate thought was for Evan's parents. I was impressed at Ella's steadfastness. She obviously had heard the news, but she was not going to let it knock her off course. The days and weeks that followed were difficult because it became clear that we were not exactly back to the drawing board, but kind of almost. Whatever deal had been beginning to take shape was now no longer viable. So that was a very difficult.

moment. That was a tough one day, is a very long time. Evan's work has been silenced for a whole year. As the one-year mark of Evan's imprisonment arrived, hundreds of people around the world read, ran, and swam to support him. Seen so many on a visit to The Journal's Newsroom in New York. Evan's parents reflected on the past 12 months. It was very painful at first to see his face splashed everywhere and, uh, now I'm used to it, then on June 13th, in a major development, Russian prosecutors said they had approved an indictment of Evan. And less than 2 weeks later, he was transferred from Moscow back to Juri Cinberg for the start of a secret trial that both Washington and The Journal called a sham. You know, one of the big problems with Evan's ordeal were these long stretches where nothing would happen. The pre-trial detention would get extended, he'd go back to prison in Moscow, and we'd wait for an appeal, which should get rejected, and it we'd seem to.

have got into this pattern so so when they actually set a a trial date and moved him to your catarin BG it was a it was a moment. The next hearing had been set for August but it was moved forward by nearly a month to July 18th following a request from Evans lawyers to date uh Russia has provided no evidence of a crime and has failed to justify Evan's continued detention uh Evan should not be detained uh Paul Wayan should not be detained and both of them should be immediately released. The tri concluded on July 19th. Evan was sentenced to 16 years in a high security penal colony clearly very bad news on the surface very very bad news more than just on the surface it just was bad news and we reported it as such and we spoke out against it but inside and behind the scenes it was difficult this was bad news that could also represent good news because we were hopeful that by having got through the legal process we could then move into the next phase which would be a political solution.

just 2 weeks later, Evan was finally freed in a prisoner exchange. The main protagonists here are Evan and his family. They have been remarkable - their resilience, their calm, their stoicism. The way they've handled this has been awe-inspiring. [Music]

WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich Freed From Russian Prison: A Timeline | WSJ

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