Princeton High School To Honor Detained Journalist Evan Gershkovich

PRINCETON, NJ — Students of Princeton High School will be honoring alumnus Evan Gershkovich on Tuesday, before the school’s varsity men's soccer game.

Gershkovich, a reporter with Wall Street Journal was detained by Russia in March during a reporting trip on charges of espionage.

In attendance will be Ken Brown, financial enterprise editor at WSJ along with Wayne Sutcliffe, who was coach of the team that won the Group II State Championship in 2009 for which Gershkovich was the captain.

Before the school’s varsity game warm-up on Tuesday, Brown and Sutcliffe will make some remarks, which will begin at 4 p.m.

All varsity players will be warming up in t-shirts displaying #IStandWithEvan, the hashtag used by WSJ to call attention to Gershkovich's detention.

“It has been nearly six months since Evan was arrested and falsely accused of espionage. The Wall Street Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny the allegation and continue to call for his immediate release,” the WSJ said in a statement.

On Sept. 19, a Moscow Court refused to hear an appeal against Gershkovich’s pre-trail detention. The Court said it was sending the motion back to the lower court. By doing so, it effectively quashed the reporter’s appeal for the time being.

Gershkovich’s pre-trail detention was extended twice since his arrest – once in March and then in August.

With the court’s latest decision, Gershkovich will remain in detention at least until Nov. 30, a Russian news agency reported.

Gershkovich graduated from Princeton High School in 2010 and then attended Bowdoin College. He was captain of the Princeton High School 2009 soccer team, which won the New Jersey State Championship.

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