Russia violated international law imprisoning Wall Street Journal reporter: UN experts [Video]

GENEVA, Switzerland –

UN human rights experts say Russia violated international law by imprisoning Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and should release him “immediately.”

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, made up of independent experts convened by the UN’s top human rights body, said there was a “striking lack of any factual or legal substantiation” for spying charges levelled against Gershkovich, 32.

The five-member group said Gershkovich’s U.S. nationality has been a factor in his detention, and as a result, the case against him was “discriminatory.”

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Matthew Gillett, the working group’s chair, said its opinion was grounded in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was adopted in 1966 and nearly all UN member countries have ratified.

“The covenant is something that Russia has freely signed up to and accepted the obligations under, and therefore …