After a rushed secretive trial a Russian court today convicted American journalist

Evan Gerschkovic in a case that the US dismisses as a sham. The 32-year-old

Wall Street Journal reporter was sentenced to 16 years in a high security

penal colony.

He's the first American journalist to be arrested by Russia on espionage charges since the

Cold War.

To discuss the efforts to free Evan and bring him

home, we're joined now by Almar Latour. He's the publisher of the Wall Street

Journal and CEO of Dow Jones.

Omar, welcome back and thanks for joining us.

Thank you, I'm not.

Great to be there.

Let's just start with your reaction to the conviction and the sentence today.

Were you expecting a 16-year sentence?

Well, there's two reactions really.

We're appalled at the 16 year sentence.

It's an insult.

It's an assault on free press on Evan.

It's terribly distressing.

And it's wrong because all of this is based on false charges,

sham trial, and lies, really, manufactured lies.

On the other hand, if you look at the history of autocratic regimes and particularly the one in Russia, we know that

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