Detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich files appeal against arrest in Russia

Moscow [Russia], April 3 : Detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has filed an appeal against his arrest in Russia, CNN reported citing Russian state news agency TASS.

Gershkovich is currently being held in a pre-trial detention centre at Russia's Lefortovo prison until May 29.

He faces up to 20 years in prison on espionage charges. The Wall Street Journal has denied the spying accusations against Gershkovich, according to CNN.

No date for hearing the appeal has been set.

The US on Sunday expressed concern over Russia's detention of US citizen journalist Evan Gershkovich and called for his immediate release.

US' concern was expressed by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a telephonic conversation with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke today with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Secretary Blinken conveyed the United States' grave concern over Russia's unacceptable detention of a US citizen journalist. The Secretary called for his immediate release," according to a readout issued by the US Department of State, attributed to Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel.

Blinken further urged the Kremlin to immediately release wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan. The Secretary and Foreign Minister Lavrov also discussed the importance of creating an environment that permits diplomatic missions to carry out their work.

"I spoke with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today to convey our grave concern over Russia's unacceptable detention of a U.S. citizen journalist. I called for his release and for the release of wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan," Blinken tweeted on Sunday.

American reporter for Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Russia on espionage charges, Russia's top security agency said on Thursday, reported Al-Jazeera.

WSJ in a statement said, "The Wall Street Journal is deeply concerned for the safety of Gershkovich."

The Federal Security Service (FSB), a top KGB successor agency, said that the WSJ reporter was detained from the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg while he allegedly tried to obtain classified information.

In a statement, FSB said, "Gershkovich acting on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex," read a WSJ report.

The FSB has also alleged that Gershkovich "was collecting classified information about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex that constitutes a state secret," according to Al-Jazeera.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor