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One year ago, Russian authorities detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich while he was on assignment in Moscow.
On Friday, the Journal marked Gershkovich's one year in detention with a large blank space on its front page, a somber reminder of the 32-year-old journalist's "stolen year."
"Evan has lost 12 months of normal existence as a kinetic and curious 32-year-old, a year he should have been jetting around Europe and the U.S. between groups of friends, his family and his reporting trips to Russia," his friend and Journal colleague Eliot Brown wrote.
The Wall Street Journal also sent a news alert, which read: "This alert should have gone to a story by Evan."
Gershkovich, whose parents fled the Soviet Union for the U.S., moved to Russia to work as a reporter in 2017 and joined the Journal in 2022.
He was detained on an espionage charge on March 29, 2023 — allegations the Journal vehemently denied. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
He is the first American reporter whom Russia has held on an espionage charge since the Cold War.
His father, Mikhail Gershkovich, told The New York Times that when he and his wife first heard that he had missed his daily security check-in, they hoped that it "was some kind of error."
While in detention, Gershkovich plays chess with his father through the mail, reads books recommended by friends, and makes arrangements for flower deliveries to mark special occasions for friends and family, the Times reported.
His mother, Ella Milman, told ABC News that they remain hopeful for his release.
"I think if you let the pessimism in, it's — the game is over," Milman said. "Our saying in the family is we’re moving forward."
A Russian court extended his detention by three months just days before the anniversary. No trial date has been set.