The Russian judge who sentenced Ivan Gershkovich said he had not examined any evidence

Andrei Minev, the Russian judge who on July 19 sentenced American journalist Ivan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison, said that during the trial “no evidence was examined,” because neither the prosecution nor the defense requested it. The statement was quoted from Russian media It was appealed before diverse Media international. Minev said he was “100%, even 200%” sure that Gershkovitch was secretly working for the CIA, and therefore the conviction was legitimate.

The trial began on June 26, took place behind closed doors and ended in only three sessions: “The case itself was small, I do not remember the number of files.” [di documenti] “There were three or five,” Minev said, adding that there were only two witnesses. On the day of the sentencing, the judge retired to write the judgment around midday, and delivered everything at 5 p.m.: he said he was also very tight on time because he knew how to “type quickly” on the computer.

Russian intelligence arrested Gershkovich in March 2023, while he was working on an article about the operations of the Wagner Group. He then remained for more than a year in protective custody in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, known as one of the main places of detention for political opponents and journalists critical of the Russian government for more than a century. In mid-June 2024, Gershkovich was formally charged with “collecting classified information” in connection with a facility that builds and repairs military equipment in the Yekaterinburg region.

According to the prosecution, the journalist worked for the CIA, but no evidence was ever presented to support the accusations, which were immediately considered false and deceptive. On August 1, Gershkovitch participated in a major prisoner exchange between the United States, Russia, and various European countries, and then returned to the United States.