As part of a multi-prisoner swap deal, Princeton High School graduate and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been released from prison in Moscow, along with former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who has also been freed. According to ABC News, the swap has allowed both detained citizens to return home.

Gershkovich, 32, was arrested by Russian authorities while on assignment in March 2023, and charged with espionage. A month ago, he was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years in a high-security penal colony. Both he and Whelan, who was arrested in 2018 and also accused of espionage, denied the charges. Whelan has served five years in prison.

Gershkovich graduated from Princeton High School in 2010 and was captain of its soccer team. He graduated from Bowdoin College, where he also played soccer, in 2014.

Princeton Public Schools Acting Superintendent Kathie Foster said in a statement, “We are relieved and delighted by the news that Evan Gershkovich has been released from a Russian prison as part of a prisoner exchange with the United States and other countries. Our thoughts are with his family as they will soon be reunited with him after 15 months of wrongful detention. I know I speak for all Evan’s former teachers, his classmates, and the entire Princeton Public Schools community when I share our joy of his return home to the United States and his family.”