The US State Department announced on Monday that Evan Gershkovich, the American journalist arrested in Russia, will be designated as “wrongfully detained,” a qualification that effectively equates Gershkovich to a political hostage and greatly increases his powers and autonomy. which the government can use in trying to secure his release.
Gershkovich’s case will now be handled by the Office of the President’s Envoy for Hostage Affairs, a branch of the State Department specifically focused on obtaining the release of political hostages. From now on, in all likelihood, the government will begin negotiations for the release, which, however, risk being very complicated.
Gershkovich had been arrested by Russian intelligence in Yekaterinburg in central Russia while he was working on an article for his newspaper, the Wall Street Journal. Russian authorities have groundlessly accused him of spying for the United States, a crime for which under Russian law he faces up to 20 years in prison.
The “wrongfully detained” designation is an indication that the US government believes that one of its citizens has been arrested by a foreign government with the aim of obtaining political or economic concessions from the United States. Cases of people held hostage by terrorist groups are also handled by the same office. Between 40 and 50 people are currently thought to be designated as “wrongfully detained”.
The process of being classified as “wrongfully detained” is usually very lengthy, but some exceptions have been made for Gershkovich. Gershkovich is the first American journalist arrested in Russia since the Cold War.
The Office of the President’s Envoy on Hostage Matters, which will now be handling Gershkovich’s case, has about 25 professional negotiators, whose job it is to negotiate on behalf of the US government the conditions for the release of people wrongfully detained. Many analysts expect Gershkovich’s negotiation to be long and complex. The case of US basketball player Brittney Griner, who was arrested in February 2022 because there were some cartridges for a vaporizer with hashish oil (a derivative of cannabis) in her luggage at the airport, lasted 10 months and ended with a prisoner exchange in which the United States was forced to release one of the most dangerous arms dealers in the world, the Russian Viktor Bout.
Gershkovich is accused of espionage, therefore of a much more serious crime than that of Griner, and it is probable, as he wrote il Financial Timesthat Russia will demand “a very high price” for its release.