Evan Gershkovich
Washington D.C./11.04.23/Turan: The U.S. State Department on Monday officially declared that journalist Evan Gershkovich is being wrongfully detained in Russia, a move that empowers the Biden administration to explore every avenue to try to secure his release, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.
This designation also means that his case will now be handled by the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.
“Journalism is not a crime,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a statement. “We condemn the Kremlin’s continued repression of independent voices in Russia, and its ongoing war against the truth.”
Gershkovich was arrested on spying allegations in Russia.
“We call for the Russian Federation to immediately release Mr. Gershkovich,” Patel said. “We also call on Russia to release wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan.”
Speaking to reporters during a daily briefing, Patel also said that Russia has not granted U.S. consular officials access to Gershkovich since he was detained late last month and is in violation of international law.
Alex Raufoglu
Politics
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The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OPHRD), a joint program of the World Organization against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has called for the urgent release of activist Rufat Safarov from prison in Azerbaijan. It has launched a campaign in support of the Azerbaijani human rights defender. https://www.omct.org/en/resources/urgent-interventions/arbitrary-detention-and-judicial-harassment-against-rufat-safarov
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