MOSCOW. May 23 (Interfax) - The parents of The Wall Street Journal's Moscow bureau correspondent Evan Gershkovich have arrived in Russia, where their son is under criminal investigation.
"The parents of the accused were present in the courthouse on Tuesday," the Lefortovsky District Court's press service said, responding to a question from Interfax.
The relatives were let into the courthouse but did not attend the hearing, which was closed to the public due to the classified nature of the case, the spokesperson said.
The reporter's defense team, in a conversation with Interfax, has declined to comment on the situation.
Earlier on Tuesday, the court extended Gershkovich's arrest until August 30 at the request of a Federal Security Service (FSB) investigator.
In late March, the FSB reported the detention of U.S. citizen Gershkovich, born in 1991. The FSB said at the time that "the American was detained in Yekaterinburg while trying to obtain secret information."
The journalist was later charged with espionage.
According to the FSB, Gershkovich, "acting on the orders of the U.S., was gathering information about a Russian defense plant that constitutes a state secret."
Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said later that Gershkovich was caught red-handed
Gershkovich pled not guilty, his defense team said.
United States authorities said his arrest was illegal and are seeking to secure his release.
The journalist is being held at the Lefortovo pretrial detention facility in Moscow.