 U.S. officials and the Wall Street Journal are denouncing the secretive and speedy trial as a sham and illegitimate. Court officials say prosecutors made the request for an 18-year sentence during closing arguments in a closed-door session in Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains. The 32-year-old was arrested in March 2023 on a reporting trip in the city. Authorities claim, without offering any evidence, that he was gathering secret information for the U.S. I'm Donna Water.