German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock described the Russian court decision on Friday to sentence U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich to 16 years for allegedly spying as politically motivated.
“Journalism is not a crime and the truth cannot be locked away,” Baerbock wrote on X.
She said the conviction showed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is afraid of the power of facts.” She called the sentence part of Putin’s war propaganda.
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The Russian judiciary sentenced Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, following a closed-door trial on charges of espionage.
Gershkovich, the newspaper and the U.S. government rejected the charge as having no basis in fact