Back to the Cold War era

The Glienicke Bridge in Germany which crosses over the Havel River is one of Europe’s less spectacular bridges.

But it is one of the most renowned monuments of the Cold War era, as it was where captured spies were traded between the East and West.

This so-called Bridge of Spies comes to mind as I think about the arrest of an American journalist, Evan Gershkovich, 31, in Russia last March 29.

Many speculate that the Moscow-based journalist, wrongfully accused of being a spy, is being held hostage for some future trade down the road.

I don’t know Evan but I stand with him in this difficult time because I know, in no uncertain terms, that an attack even on just a single journalist anywhere in the world is an attack against our most basic freedoms which our forefathers valiantly fought for centuries ago.

We now live in the 21st century; any arbitrary arrest brings us back to the dark ages or back to the Cold War era when fundamental rights were taken away without rhyme or reason and just about anyone was accused of being a straggler spy.

World Press Freedom Day

As I write this, Evan remains detained in a Moscow jail. This is happening as we mark the 30th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day tomorrow, May 3.

Three decades have passed since it was proclaimed in 1993 and yet media freedom, safety of journalists and freedom of expression are increasingly under attack, which impacts the fulfillment of other human rights, according to the United Nations.

Evan’s case is a concrete example. It was brought to my attention by a Filipino colleague and friend, Jude Marfil, who is now based in the US working for the WSJ.

I read more about what happened and I am alarmed even though this is a story unfolding some 8,000 kilometers away from the Philippines.

WSJ columnist Peggy Noonan puts it well:

“He did his job in danger, as all reporters in Moscow do, operating under harsh press laws since the Ukraine war. There is every reason to be very worried about him. He has been charged with espionage, the first American reporter to be so charged since the Cold War. He is not in a regular prison but an FSB (Federal Security Service) prison, meaning he’s subject to greater isolation.”

The New Yorker, in a separate article, said: “The last time an American journalist was arrested in Russia and charged with espionage was 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a correspondent for US News & World Report, was held in Lefortovo for two weeks, before being released in exchange for a Soviet diplomat who had been caught in an FBI sting operation in New York. This is not, in other words, the kind of thing that happens all the time, even in a climate of worsening relations between Washington and Moscow. And it could not have occurred without Putin’s personal approval.

“His spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, let on as much on Thursday, when he commented on Evan’s case. Normally, when journalists ask Peskov to react to a politically motivated arrest, he demurs, instead acting as if it’s solely a matter for law enforcement and the courts. But Peskov was more confident and direct in responding to Evan’s detention. ‘We’re not talking about suspicions,’ he said. ‘He was caught red-handed.’”

POTUS, the US government and Evan’s colleagues, friends and family all know that Evan is not a spy. He is a journalist who is now a state hostage.

His recent works included stories on Vladimir Putin’s relative isolation and the Ukraine war’s economic toll

Evan was on a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg to cover Russian mercenary group Wagner, which has taken part in some of the heaviest fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Journalism is not a crime

We’ve said this over and over but it needs to be said, again and again – journalism is not a crime and yet Evan was arrested while doing his job. As a journalist, I add my voice to the growing list of fellow journalists across the globe calling for his release.

Sure, journalists make mistakes; which profession does not? But we know when to correct and when to apologize and to hold ourselves accountable.

We sign each and every story with our name, owning it and, in some cases, putting our neck on the line.

Our job is to tell the world the truth, no matter how many versions the powers-that-be try to portray or paint to the public.

It is not an easy task and yet we persevere because we believe in it as our service to our nation, our fellowmen. I believe in it.

Russia is a beautiful country, one of the most magnificent and jaw-dropping countries I’ve had a chance to visit once before.

It is sad that in this era of a supposedly freer world, it has chosen to go back to a period reminiscent of the Cold War, a time many had thought was long gone.

As Nobel Peace Prize winner Joseph Rotblat, the scientist opposed to nuclear weapons, famously warned, the Cold War is over but cold war thinking survives.

Now more than ever, this outdated mindset must be replaced by the voice of reason – for the sake of a better world, for the sake of journalism, for the sake of the truth-tellers, for the sake of humanity.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.