The parents of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is imprisoned in Russia, will attend President Joe Biden's State of the Union address at the invitation of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
As the one-year anniversary of their son's imprisonment approaches, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich are scheduled to meet with Johnson ahead of the president's speech on Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported.
"We are grateful to Speaker Johnson for inviting us to attend the State of the Union and for providing the opportunity to highlight Evan's wrongful detention," Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich said in a statement. "We're also grateful to President Biden for his continued work on Evan's behalf. Evan is an American, and he was doing his job as a journalist. He is most importantly a beloved son and brother, and we want him home."
Johnson added: "By hosting Evan's parents, Congress will shine a spotlight on the unjust detention of their son. The United States must always stand for freedom of the press around the world, especially in places like Russia, where it is under assault. The administration must bring Evan home."
A court in the Russian capital ruled Feb. 20 to keep Evan Gershkovich in custody pending his trial on espionage charges that he denies, the Associated Press reported.
The Moscow City Court rejected an appeal against Gershkovich's detention filed by his lawyers, upholding an earlier ruling to keep him behind bars until the end of March.
The court's order means that Gershkovich, 32, will spend at least a year behind bars in Russia after his arrest in March 2023 while on a reporting trip to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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