The Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing denounces Russia’s unexplained, 90-day extension of the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
Gershkovich has been held on charges of espionage without evidence since March 29. SABEW joins The Wall Street Journal and others in calling for his immediate release.
“To detain a reporter, without evidence, on charges of espionage is an outrage,” said SABEW First Amendment Committee Chair Henry Dubroff, a former president of the organization. “There is no due process here, only the naked display of power by a dictatorship.”
SABEW called for Gershkovich’s release on World Press Freedom Day. Members of SABEW wore “Free Evan” buttons provided by the WSJ at SABEW’s annual conference in St. Petersburg, Florida last month.
Russia’s arrest of a financial journalist trying to report on that nation’s economic conditions underscores the need for a free and independent press. It is simply wrong to jail a reporter for doing his or her job.
