EVAN Gershkovich's sham trial for bogus espionage charges has begun in Russia today with the journalist standing tall in court.
The innocent American, 32, appeared in a glass cage with a shaved head and smiled for cameras before the press were booted out.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan has been wrongly accused by Vladimir Putin's crooks of collecting "secret information" for the CIA.
The sham trial will be held behind closed doors in Yekaterinburg after repeated delays since his arrest in March 2023.
Evan was arrested while on a reporting trip in Yekaterinburg and has been held in Moscow's notorious Lefortovo prison ever since.
Putin accused of surrounding himself with same 'actors' at series of events
He has spent almost 15 months behind bars and faces a further 20 years in prison if found guilty.
Gershkovich was the first Western journalist since the Soviet era to be arrested for spying in Russia.
A small group of journalists were allowed inside the Sverdlovsk courthouse this morning, a thousand miles from St Petersburg, to see him before proceedings began.
Evan made no comment from inside the metal and glass box known in Russian courts as an "aquarium".
It was the only time journalists will be allowed inside the room during his sham trial.
A few weeks ago Russia accused him of working for the CIA and "collecting secret information" about Uralvagonzavod, a military facility in the Sverdlovsk region.
It was the first time Putin's authorities had revealed the details of their accusations against Gershkovich - after saying only that he was "caught red-handed".
Gershkovich, his family, his employer and the US have vehemently denied all charges against him - insisting the journalist was just simply doing his job.
Washington said the charges have "zero credibility" and the Wall Street Journal slammed Russia's announcement of a "sham trial" as "outrageous".
His wrongful detention is a blow to press freedom, and it should matter to anyone who values free society. We will not rest until he is free
Catholics across the world pray for Pope Benedict XVI as his body lies in state Emma Tucker, Wall Street Journal Editor in Chief
The Wall Street Journal's chief editor Emma Tucker and top executives said: "Evan Gershkovich is facing a false and baseless charge.
"Russia's latest move toward a sham trial is, while expected, deeply disappointing and still no less outrageous."
After news of his upcoming sham trial, Tucker said: "His wrongful detention is a blow to press freedom, and it should matter to anyone who values free society.
"We will not rest until he is free."
The US last year declared Gershkovich "wrongfully detained" - meaning the White House regards him as a political hostage.
"We have been clear from the start that Evan has done nothing wrong," US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
"He should never have been arrested in the first place.
"The charges against him are false, and the Russian government knows that they are false. He should be released immediately."
In February, Putin, 71, said he would like to see Gershkovich freed as part of a prisoner exchange and that talks were ongoing.
But the Russian tyrant made clear he wanted any deal to involve the release of a Russian jailed in Germany for killing a Chechen dissident, assumed to be Vadim Krasikov.
He is serving a life sentence for the 2019 killing in Berlin of a Georgian citizen of Chechen descent.
The Kremlin has said there has been "contact" with the US on a possible exchange involving Gershkovich.
"But they (talks) need to be held in total silence," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
