Moscow Court Upholds Decision To Place WSJ Reporter In Pretrial Detention Center

The Moscow City Court on Tuesday ruled that the decision to place Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, who is accused of espionage, in pretrial detention center was lawful, a Sputnik correspondent confirmed.

"The decision of the Lefortovo District Court of Moscow to be left unchanged, the appeal (of Gershkovich's defense team) - not satisfied," the judge said.

US Ambassador in Russia Lynne Tracy said that Washington expected Moscow to grant a continuous consular access to Gershkovich and called for his immediate release.

"I was able to meet Evan yesterday at the court of the prison.

It was the first time he was granted counselor access since his wrongful detention more than two weeks ago ... We expect the Russian authorities to provide continuous counselor access to Evan," Tracy said after the hearing.

On March 29, Gershkovich was detained in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on suspicion of trying to collect classified defense information for the United States. A Moscow court ruled that the reporter be put in pre-trial detention until May 29. The Wall Street Journal has denied the allegations and demanded Gershkovich's immediate release.