United States President, joe Biden, has accused the Russian Government of targeting American journalist, Evan Gershkovich.
Biden said the Russian Government targeted Gershkovich because he’s an American.
He was reacting to the 16 years jail term handed to Gershkovich by a Russian court.
A Russian court had found Gershkovich guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in a high-security penal colony.
This was after a secretive trial decried as a “sham” by his employer, his family and the White House.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter was first arrested last March while on a reporting trip in the city of Yekaterinburg, about 1,600km (1,000 miles) east of Moscow, by security services.
Prosecutors accused him of working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), accusations that Gershkovich, the WSJ and the US vociferously deny.
It marks the first conviction of a US journalist for espionage in Russia since the Cold War ended more than 30 years ago.
Reacting, Biden posted on X: “Today, Evan Gershkovich received a sentence of 16 years in a Russian prison, despite having committed no crime.
“I will not mince words: he was targeted by the Russian government because he is a journalist and an American.”