U.N. Panel Adds to Chorus Calling for Release of Evan Gershkovich

Russia arbitrarily arrested the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich to punish him for his reporting on the war in Ukraine, a United Nations panel said in a statement released on Tuesday, adding to a chorus of public condemnation of his continued detention.

In its statement, adopted in March but released on Tuesday, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, said that Mr. Gershkovich, who appeared in a secret court hearing last week to face an espionage charge that he denies, must be released immediately.

“Mr. Gershkovich’s arrest was conducted under the pretextual label of espionage but was in fact designed to punish his reporting on the armed conflict” between Russia and Ukraine, the group said. It said that it had requested that Russia “clarify the legal provisions justifying” Mr. Gershkovich’s detention but that it did not receive a response.

In a statement, Almar Latour, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, said the group’s opinion recognized that “Russia is violating international law by imprisoning Evan for his journalism.”

The working group, consisting of legal scholars and lawyers, said that Russia has presented no “factual or legal substantiation” for the espionage charges against Mr. Gershkovich and that his legal team had been deprived “of the ability to coordinate, strategize, and advise Mr. Gershkovich regarding his rights under international law.”

It also noted that Russia failed to demonstrate sufficient reasons to justify the decision to hear Mr. Gershkovich’s case behind closed doors and that Russia restricted his rights to consular assistance.