Faculty and administrators at Bowdoin College as well as members of Maine's congressional delegation cheered the release Thursday of Evan Gershkovich, a journalist held for more than a year in Russia on what the White House said were false espionage charges.
Gershkovich was one of 24 people involved in one of the most complicated prisoner-exchange deals negotiated between western nations and Russia in recent decades. Three other U.S. citizens or green-card holders were released in addition to Gershkovich.
A Bowdoin alumnus, Gershkovich was working as a reporter in Russia for the Wall Street Journal when he was arrested last year and charged with spying. He was sentenced last month to 16 years in prison during a secretive trial.
Bowdoin College President Safa Zaki said there have been "Free Evan" posters all around campus to call attention to Gershkovich's plight as well as displays highlighting how many days since his arrest. In fact, Zaki says the 2014 graduate has been "at the forefront of many of our minds" for many months on the campus of the small liberal arts college with roughly 2,000 students.
"It's just such excellent news," Zaki said on Thursday afternoon. "We're so relieved and there is a lot of joy on campus. As I've been walking around, people have been stopping me and wanting to talk about it. You can just feel it throughout this place."
Philosophy professor Scott Sehon had Gershkovich — a philosophy major — in four of his classes. Sehon described his former student as diligent, analytically minded and "clearly one of the best students in the class" by the time he graduated.
Sehon said he first heard about Gershkovich's release from news alerts on his phone as he was traveling to Italy for a conference. The news quickly spread.
"And I then checked email and had rather jubilant emails from philosophy colleagues in my department . . . so it was obviously great news that they had negotiated this exchange and that Evan will be free," Sehon said.
Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who lives in Brunswick where Bowdoin College is located, called it "spectacular news" and praised the negotiators from multiple countries.
"It really is an amazing diplomatic achievement involving seven different countries . . . and a lot of moving parts," said King, who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee. "But this is a real achievement by the administration and those other countries, Turkey and others that helped to facilitate it. It's a great day to be seeing these people come home."
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican who serves alongside King on the Senate Intelligence Committee, also applaused the development on Thursday.
“I join all Americans in cheering the release of Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan who were unjustifiably detained on bogus charges in Russia, suffered through sham trials, and were used as political pawns by Vladimir Putin," Collins said in a statement. "I am heartened that these brave men will soon return home and be reunited with their families. Evan, an American journalist, and Paul, an American Marine, stand as examples of strength and resilience in the face of Putin’s increasingly brutal regime.”
Both Zaki and Sehon say they hope to welcome Gershkovich back to campus, but only after he has has had time to fully recuperate with family, friends and colleagues.
"I also think that a piece of this has to do with how inspirational he is to so many of us, myself included," Zaki said. "The things that he stood for, going towards people, understanding people's circumstances and making them known to the world is something that is core to Bowdoin. And I think it resonates with the people here."
