MOSCOW: Russian prosecutors sent US journalist Evan Gershkovich’s case to court on Thursday, paving the way for him to be tried on espionage charges denied by his employer and the White House as a sham.

The Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested in March 2023 while on a reporting trip to the Urals city of Yekaterinburg and has been held in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo prison since.

In a statement Thursday, Russia’s Prosecutor General accused him of working for the CIA and “collecting secret information” about tank maker Uralvagonzavod in the Sverdlovsk region where he was arrested.