May 23 (UPI) -- Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will remain in pretrial detention until at least Aug. 30, a Russian court ruled Tuesday.
Members of the Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, told the judge that Gershkovich should remain in prison until the trial begins, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Kremlin has accused Gershkovich of breaking Russian law on behalf of the U.S. government while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, located more than 1,000 miles east of Moscow. The Wall Street Journal and the Biden administration have denied the charges.
The FSB has accused him of collecting information that constituted a state secret about the activities happening at one of its military-industrial complexes.
The court ordered Gershkovich back into custody after his attorneys failed to convince it that the reporter should be released from pretrial detention after three weeks of confinement.
Earlier this month leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee introduced a resolution, calling for Gershkovich's release.
Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Ranking Member Gregory W. Meeks, D-N.Y., said Gershkovich should be immediately released because there are no grounds for his detainment.
"Russia has no grounds to hold Evan Gershkovich prisoner, he's an innocent American journalist," the statement said. "We are proud to introduce this resolution calling on the Russian government to release Evan and other wrongfully detained Americans immediately and return them to their families."
