MOSCOW. June 22 (Interfax) - The Moscow City Court has upheld the extended arrest of Evan Gershkovich, the reporter of the Wall Street Journal's Moscow bureau charged with spying, an Interfax correspondent reported.
"The ruling by Moscow's Lefortovsky District Court of May 23, 2023, extending the arrest of Gershkovich until August 30, 2023, is upheld, and the defense's appeal is dismissed," the court said.
The court met in camera, as materials in the Gershkovich criminal case are classified. Only the judicial disposition was announced.
The lawyers said earlier that non-custodial measure of restraint could be selected for Gershkovich.
U.S. embassy representatives, including Ambassador Lynne Tracy, and Gershkovich's parents, who came to Russia from the United States, visited the Moscow City Court on Thursday. They did not attend the hearing due to its private nature.
At the same time, Gershkovich's parents were able to speak to him after the court retired to its chambers for deliberation.
Tracy said after the hearing that Washington was "extremely disappointed" by the rejection of the appeal, and noted that she failed to speak with Gershkovich, having only seen him in the courtroom.
"[Failing] to apply its obligations under the Consular Convention between our two countries, Russia has denied the U.S. embassy's requests of formal consular access on three occasions since we last visited Evan in April," she said.
The U.S. government's position is unwavering: Gershkovich was groundlessly detained while conducting journalistic activities, and must be released from custody, Tracy said.